


Guide of Time

by InuVampireChan



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Kinda anyway, M/M, My ass and twisting it, Please bring tissues with you for this ride, Sheikah Culture, These boys are so in love it is physically painful, but link and sheik are very much in love, but she really loves and cares about Sheik, im also pulling Sheikah lore out of, impa’s harsh parenting, no beta we die like the Sheikah, shlink, this is going to be a slow burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:01:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 47,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29051073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InuVampireChan/pseuds/InuVampireChan
Summary: Sheik’s job was written out for him the moment he was born. Be the guide, be the shadow, but nothing more. He was content with those rules, Impa made sure he knew them all down to the very letter. But knowing it and actually doing it are two very conflicting things. What if he just helps a little bit more? What if he stays a little bit longer than the prophecy says he should? Surely the Hero will still succeed, surely everything will be fine.Just a little longer.—Sheik turned slowly to look at him, amusement still dancing across his face as he nodded his head to the request. “I want you to know you are the only person that takes the definition of the word ‘Guide’ to the very last letter.” What he wouldn’t tell Link though was that it felt good to be relied on so heavily. He felt like he was actually needed, that he was making a difference.Link’s left hand reached out, taking hold of Sheik’s and gently held it. “I’m the Hero of Time, right?” Sheik nodded, a bit confused on where this was going. “Then it’s for me to decide how I need to be guided, not everyone around me. Not even the Goddesses. If they want me to save Hyrule, then I should be allowed to use as much help and resources as I can.”
Relationships: Impa & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link/Sheik (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 28





	Guide of Time

**Author's Note:**

> This was written based on my idea for the other Zelda fanfic I’m writing and an older work of mine. I just had the thought while writing my other story one day “what if Sheik stayed longer” and this was written. I redid the shadow temple rather than following the exact linear path of it. I just always thought that for a place called the Shadow Temple it... was never very shadowy. That and I thought it would be more interesting to read if we weren’t just reading a walkthrough. The Sheikah lore in this is based off of my other story and expanded on, the Sheikah were always interesting to me as was Bongo Bongo. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this! I edited it a lot but again it’s not beta read. Any mistakes found I will correct if pointed out! 
> 
> Make sure you have your tissues at the ready!

According to Impa there was a set of rules that he had to follow. Rules set not by her but written in the prophecy that he was fulfilling. Rules that, according to her, made sense. That she expected Sheik to follow as closely as he was following his prophecy. If you asked Sheik himself the rules didn't make sense, they just made things more difficult than they were already going to be. Which was fine, he was no stranger to difficult tasks. The same couldn't be said for some child from the forest.

Seven years she said he'd sleep. Seven years. With your mind frozen in a suspended place of sleep for seven years how much would you be able to grow? According to Impa he could still dream, but he'd lack education and experience. No offense to her, but to Sheik it wasn't age that determined how old you were, but life experiences. As it stood at the age of twenty Sheik had seen war, fought for his life, looked death in the eyes and stood before the darkest creature to ever call himself King. He's seen the end and that definitely didn't make him feel barely out of his teens. 

He couldn't be one to judge though, Sheik didn't pull the Master Sword (thank the goddesses for that). Whatever the world had planned for him he had to believe the Goddesses picked their chosen Hero wisely. His place was to guide them, not to figure out their mental state. As curious as he might be about it. 

Impa was safe guarding the Princess, they'd taken residents up in an old Sheikah tunnel that ran beneath Hyrule. It was supposed to be secure considering the difficulty of getting inside. Sheik's job was to keep eyes off of them, which led right into what he was supposed to be doing while the Hero slept. 

Playing both sides. 

It wasn't hard to get Ganondorf to believe Sheik was on his side. With the Sheikah's history with the Royal Family he just needed to convince the man he hated Hyrule as much as they did. The only problem with proving that was Sheik's hands were far from clean. He only hoped if the Princess ever found out what he needed to do to play this part, she'd understand. Not forgive him, Sheik didn't even think he'd forgive himself, just understand. 

He learned what he could from Ganondorf and then took that information back to Impa. The tasks that Ganondorf gave him tended to be easy. With Hyrule under his thumb he didn't need Sheik to strike fear into the hearts of its civilians, thankfully. He mostly, ironically, used Sheik as a spy himself. He was supposed to be looking out for the Hero and then when the Hero did show his orders were simple; kill him. 

Not that Sheik was going to but it certainly made pretending to be Ganondorf's spy easy. The tasks thrown at him seemed to all be merging together, if either parties blinked it would be clear he was playing for their side. So long as neither squinted too hard to see just what he was doing. 

It might be a thankless job what he was doing and he might not have ever wanted to do it in the first place. But he did hope that at the end the things he had to do were worth it. That single thought and hope was what got him to keep moving. 

His fingers stilled on the strings of the harp and Sheik tilted his head upward toward the sky. The sun was rising, it was just about time for the Hero to awaken. Placing the instrument away behind him, Sheik swung himself down from the tree and started for the Temple of Time. 

Getting around unseen wasn't hard for a Sheikah. Their powers were deeply rooted in shadows and so with just a single attempt he could vanish into them and move through them. It was simple but desperately needed for the type of work that he was doing. As he comfortably got himself settled on the rafters of the temple he waited, patiently, for the Hero of Time to appear. Considering this moment had been timed since the moment he got his destiny thrown at him, it didn't take long. Sheik nearly had it down to the exact second, clock ticking in the back of his head. 

A crystal blue light appeared and with it came the Hero of Time himself. From his place high up Sheik couldn't see him that well but he did watch the Hero swing the sword round in an arch and then slip it behind his back. The tunic of the Kokiri had grown with him, strangely enough, but Sheik didn't think it was ill fitting of him either. The green certainly complimented his hair, at least he thought so from the distance he was.

The fairy was talking and Sheik closed his eyes to tune his hearing to the tiny insect. "Link look! We're back at the temple of time! What the sage said must have been true." The Sage of Light must have been what she was referring to. Rauru had been the one to build the Temple of Time and with that creation ended up imprisoning himself as a sage. Sheik didn't know whether or not to feel sorry for him. A part of him thought Rauru knew it was going to happen, and the other part believed it was his act of creating the temple that caused it. One was significantly more hopeful, and Sheik wasn't exactly an optimistic person. 

"You're right, I wonder if what else he said was true." The Hero moved off of the pedestal and Sheik took that as his moment to enter. He waited till there was a good few feet between them and then swung himself down from the rafters. Sheik landed with a soft thud, causing enough noise for the Hero of Time to hear him. It worked, he saw the man tense and then spin, sword at the ready and eyes wide. 

Sheik waited till he relaxed, even just a bit, and then stood up from his crouch. Ever the gentleman his mother raised the Sheikah offered the Hero a bow. "I've been waiting for you, Hero of Time." He straightened back up and looked the Hylian over. He was still tense, perhaps waiting for the other shoe to drop, and Sheik didn't give him that chance. "My name is Sheik, survivor of the Sheikah. Protectors of the Royal Family. You may relax, I'm no threat to you." 

"Sheik… of the Sheikah?" His lip twitched as he swung his blade up and slid the Master Sword back into its sheath. 

"It's a reminder of a legacy. I was named for my Tribe… that's now gone." As redundant as his name sounded Sheik was actually quite proud of it. He tried to carry the name with as much dignity as he could. The Sheikah were gone, but that didn't mean he had to disrespect his Tribe by making a mockery of himself, and by extension, them. "You might remember Impa, the leader of our tribe?" 

The man thought a moment, face scrunched up and then with some reluctance, nodded his head. "Things are… a bit fuzzy. She was Zelda's guard, right?" 

A nod of his head followed the question and Sheik risked a few steps forward. Link didn't tense. "Impa is still with the Princess, safe guarding her from the Evil King. Did the Sage Rauru tell you what became of Hyrule?" 

"He--he said Gan--" Sheik shook his head several times and Link quickly retreated. "the Evil King has taken over. That Hyrule was lost to him. That… it's my job to save them." 

"More or less a vague summary." Damn him for making it Sheik's job. Taking a breath he slowly let it out, trying not to appear tense in front of the other. The last thing he needed was to upset the Hero of Time by just being upset himself. "He's right, the last seven years while you… slept for lack of a better term, have been spent under The Evil King's reign. Hyrule fought it's hardest. We lost the King, the soldiers from the army perished and those that didn't fled. The Sheikah, the few that remained, were wiped out. Impa and myself are what remains of a once prideful and powerful tribe." 

Link pressed his lips together and looked away, clearly wanting to apologize but keeping silent instead. In his silence Sheik powered on. "Monsters plague this land more than before, doubling and working as the Evil King's army. Hyrule is a dangerous place, Hero, you must be prepared for that." A few more steps and then Sheik walked past the Hero into the entrance of the temple. "Castle Town is now a ghost town, taken over by Redeads and purged of its civilians." Stopping on top of the warp pad with the symbol of the Triforce. He turned, looked up to the actual Triforce above the doors of time and then turned his gaze back to Link. "Standing there with the Blade of Evil’s Bane… I must admit you do resemble the Hero of Legend.” He’s seen pictures, grown up with the stories, and has studied the records left by the Sheikah till he could recite them. It was strange, to see it in person, but reassuring. “As the Hero of Time we are relying on you and the Master Sword to free us from the Evil King's reign." 

Link stood just a few steps from him, clearly still nervous about getting too close. He looked back to the sword and then shifted his gaze to Sheik. "But how?" 

"As I'm sure Rauru told you, you must awaken the Sage's to assist you. They will give power to the Master Sword, and you. The only blade known to stop him." He closed his eyes briefly and then looked to Link once more, determined. He searched his mind for the practiced words Impa made him write over and over till his hand ached. Something to assist but not write it out for him. "Hero, when an evil rules all, an awakening voice from the Sacred Realm will call those destined to be Sages, who dwell in the five temples." 

Sheik would send him to the first place that was bound to draw him to want to help them. To his friend. A cruel thing, but a needed drive. "One in a deep forest, one on a high mountain, one under a vast lake, one within the house of the dead and one inside the Goddess of the Sand." He watched the Hero frown, clearly wanting actual names, but he couldn't give them. "Together with the Hero of Time, the awakened ones will bind the evil and return the light of peace to the world. This is the Legend of the Temples passed down by my people. If you believe the legend you have no choice, you must look for the five temples and awaken the five sages. One sage is waiting for the time of awakening in the forest temple. The sage is a girl I’m sure you know. Because of the evil power she cannot hear the awakening call from the Sacred Realm. Unfortunately equipped as you currently are, you cannot even enter the temple." 

Sheik looked away from him briefly toward the stained glass windows high above them. He let the Hero take this in for a few seconds, enough time to collect his thoughts and then turned back. “If you believe what I’m saying, you should head to Kakariko Village. Do you understand me?” The Hero hesitated but eventually nodded his head. Taking a few steps back Sheik reached into his suit and grasped a Deku Nut. "Hero, we will meet again." The nut hit the floor and Sheik vanished, leaving the temple the same way he had entered, through the ceiling. 

There he entered what he realized was a problem. Sheik needed to report to Zelda and Ganondorf. If he put one off they'd get angry. Sheik couldn't be late to either, but being late to one was significantly less worse. With that in mind he chose the less painful option and headed for the Castle. 

He never liked entering the place from the main entrance. Monsters crawled across that place in every nook and cranny and it didn't matter if they thought he was on their side or not, they always looked for a fight. Sheik pulled himself into the Castle through a window and then followed the shadows to the throne room. Pushing the door opened he stepped inside and heard it click behind him. At one point in time, the first time the most, that sound had terrified him. It no longer brought the same fear. Ganondorf, the once Gerudo (did those women still consider him one?), lifted his head from his lap. His gaze centered on Sheik, narrowed and then he leaned back. 

"And the Royal Dog returns, and on time. What a loyal pet you are." He blinked lazily and then turned his gaze to the window. "Well, did the Hero of Time awaken?" 

Silently he apologized to Link, to the Princess, and then spoke. "He did. I watched him to see if he was aware and determined to do his task. He's headed to the Kokiri Forest, for the first Sage, Saria." 

"Hm… I admit I am skeptical of your choice to not just slaughter him but perhaps it is wise to see if he even has a mind. Freezing someone for that long, does he even know anything past playing tag in a forest?" A strange smile makes its way onto his face, one Sheik can't name. Whatever he's thinking is lost on the Sheikah. "I suppose we'll find out in the forest. I'll have to set a trap of my own then." He made a sound with his tongue and one of the Moblin's in the corner stood, club dragging across the floor. "Go test our new Hero, why don't you?" 

Goddesses, he hoped Link took his warning seriously. "Your Majesty, may I leave?" 

"Hm? Yes, don't make a burden of yourself. Do something useful." 

It was nice that his mask hid his teeth grinding. Hopefully the man couldn't hear it. "Of course." As reluctant as he was to show this man an inch of respect, Sheik bowed as formal and well trained as his mother had him be, and fled. 

Figuring he needed to be prepared, Sheik made his way to Kakariko first. Link undoubtedly was already either in Kokiri Forest or partly there. He should have enough time to grab supplies from Impa's house before heading to see her. Besides, the entrance to the tunnels was in there beneath the cow. The cow that Sheik was also tasked with cleaning up after constantly. He hired one of the boys in the town to do it, Rupees weren’t worth much in Hyrule anymore but the shops still ran on them and Sheik picked up quite a few every time he went to the Castle. 

He stocked up on Dirk’s, needles, potions, first aid supplies and non-perishable foods before making his way toward the cow. He was sure the kid in the village had named it Coco, after Chocolate Milk. He nudged her out of the way and kicked around the hay, pleased to see the kid had actually been taking very good care of her and her home. He found the hidden door, sealed in magic that made it only seeable to those with the Sheikah eyes, and unlocked it. Slipping down inside he closed it behind him and dropped to the floor. The tunnels were dark, lit only by the small torches that were set on the walls and vastly far from each other. Sheikah didn’t need much light to see, but it certainly helped. 

Following the long tunnel he kept close to the wall as a guiding agent and started looping the Minuet of the Forest in his head. He knew exactly how long it took to play that song and that would tell him if he walked too far or not in distance. If he goes too far he’s missed his door. 

On the fifteenth loop he stopped and turned, fingers trailing along the wall until his eyes caught a slight shift in the darkness. Facing the tunnel wall he flattened his palm against the space and gave a pulse of his own magic. A door appeared with the Eye of Truth crest on it and Sheik found the handle. Letting himself inside the door sealed itself behind him and the brightly lit space revealed two figures. One tucked behind a desk with books and the other standing beside her. 

Identical blood red eyes met his own and Impa tilted his head upward in greeting. “Son.” 

“Sheik! You’ve returned!” Zelda stood from her chair and turned to face him, hands clasped in front of her and the perfect posture of royalty. Her smile was bright, cheerful. Despite everything she was still the kindest person he knew. 

“He’s late.” 

“Hush Impa, I’m sure he has his reasons.” 

He bowed to the both of them, long blonde hair tumbling over his shoulder. The braid needed to be fixed, he’d work on that later. “It took longer to explain things to the Hero that I anticipated. Rauru didn’t give him more than a… vague explanation. Then I needed to report to the Evil King.” 

“See, Impa? He came with more information than we anticipated, that surely makes up for his tardiness. I’m just glad you’re not hurt this time, Sheik.” She smiled kindly and sat back down at her desk. “Please, tell us what you know.” 

“I’m afraid there isn’t much yet. The Hero woke, I explained the state of Hyrule and then his task before sending him on his way.” Impa nodded satisfied, he ignored Zelda’s look of disappointment. “The Evil King has sent his monsters after him, of course, which we anticipated. I had warned the Hero that Hyrule is no longer safe, I hope he understood the severity of my words.” 

“A warning is all we can do.” Impa turned her head away, gaze finding Zelda’s at the table. They shared a silent conversation before his mother looked back to him. “Sheik, you remember the rules of the prophecy, correct?” 

“I am a silent guide. Yes, Lady Impa, I remember my task.” It’s been repeated to him time and time again. He wasn’t bound to forget that he was supposed to keep his distance. Ensure the Hero lived, but not to help more than needed. Speaking of that task. “I’m afraid I need to go now, I have to meet the Hero at the forest temple.” 

“Yes of course Sheik, I’m sorry to keep you more than needed. Please, watch the Hero for us. He is Hyrule’s last hope for survival.” Zelda smiled at him again and Sheik offered her a bow. 

“Lady Impa, Princess, I’ll return when I can.” 

[ △ ]

If there was one thing Sheik hated more than sneaking into the Castle, it was trying to find his way through the Lost Woods. Now he was a good musician, Sheik knew that because he spent years of his life studying and playing the harp. Music comes as naturally to him as swimming does for a Zora, and Sheik loves music. The problem is trying to listen to music that is as quiet as a mouse in the middle of a forest full of animals and tricky Skull Kids. 

It was literally something out of his worst nightmares. There was a point where he looped around to the start so many times he decided to just sit and meditate to try and hear the music. Thankfully, for his own sanity, he did eventually manage to make his way through. If a bird or two died in the process of him trying to listen to the music, that didn’t bother him. 

Worried he might be late he swung himself up the rocks that formed a maze before the Temple and just made his way silently across them. The Moblin’s didn’t spot him this way and that was exactly what he wanted. Sheik seemingly reached the grove at the same time Link did, he spotted the Hero walking up the steps as he climbed the mountain side, the Moblin that had blocked the entrance dead at the stairs. 

Sheik watched him head toward a small tree stump, looking to the space he was sure the Sage Saria once sat, a longing and almost desperate expression on his face. He gave him a moment to himself and then jumped down from the mountain. The Hero caught him in the corner of his gaze and turned, eyes widening. “Sheik.” 

“Hello again, Hero.” He stood up and slowly approached the other, keeping distance between them but not having to shout to be heard. His head tilted toward the stump and though his expression softened beneath the mask, Link wouldn’t see it. “The flow of time is always cruel, the speed seems different for each person… but no one can change it.” Looking back toward the Hero he felt the very embodiment of those words standing before him. “A thing that doesn’t change with time is the memory of younger days. In order to return here again, I must teach you the Minuet of Forest.” 

Confusion drew across the Hero’s face and Sheik reached behind him to retrieve the harp. He setted it in his arms, plucked a few test notes and then started to play the song. It was one of his favorites, a softer and yet playful tune. If asked he’d admit it seemed fitting of the Kokiri, a naturally playful mischievous race. Once he finished the run of it he turned his gaze back to Link who caught on quickly and pulled out the Ocarina. When Sheik played again he mimicked the song and they created a duet that was quite pleasing to the ears. Link, it seemed, had a natural talent for music. 

When the song concluded he tucked the harp away again and searched for a Deku Nut. “So,” Link started and Sheik flickered his gaze back to the Hero. “I have to go in there? With the Hookshot? Which, by the way, I had to go graverobbing for.” 

“That would be the idea, yes.” A smile twitched on his lips beneath the mask and Sheik rolled the Deku Nut through his fingers. “And is it really graverobbing if Dampy gave it to you?” 

“Hm, I still feel bad.” He shook his head but retrieved the item from his vast endless pockets. Was that fairy magic? Sheik could do that, but he used the shadow magic. Something vastly different from what fairies did and were made of. “Do you… know what I can expect in there, at least?” 

Ah, this was where he reached the problems. Where his sense of duty, his desire to help and his mothers orders all crashed. Impa would tell him to leave, the prophecy tells him to leave, his heart… tells him to answer. The Deku Nut is clenched in his hands and he wonders, truly, would anything actually change if he just opened his mouth? Technically, in Sheik’s mind, Link was still a child. A child in an adult's body that was forced to do this. Someone the world, the Goddesses, the Royal Family and even him--were using. His people were not unfamiliar with the concept of being used. His entire history was written in the blood of his people, blood that was spilled for the Royal Family. 

He shouldn’t go in blind. It simply wasn’t fair. “If you believe the legend of the Forest Temple, you will encounter a mansion like space, rundown from natural decay of time. Inhabited within that place are Poe's, four sisters in fact. I remember their names are Joelle, Beth, Amy and Meg. According to our records they existed several hundred years ago, but records of who or what they are is lost to us.” His grip on the Deku Nut loosened and Sheik shook his head. “Hero, the Evil King has sent a monster here to test you, be wary of that.” 

For his share of information he gets a smile, a wide one that spread across the Hero’s face and lit his blue eyes up. “Thank you.” His heart pounded in his chest and Sheik reflexively took several steps back. 

“We’ll meet again.” The Deku Nut hit the ground and Sheik vanished into the mountains high above the Hero. He waited up there, just long enough to make sure Link got safely inside the Temple before leaving the area. 

The first temple wasn’t supposed to be that much of a hassle. Although from what he read on it the place certainly wouldn’t be kind to someone's mental state. Then again, facing ghosts and something you never expected to see in your everyday certainly wouldn’t naturally be. Sheik knew that first hand when he was tossed down into the Shadow Temple as a training exercise. Oh, how he detested that place and Impa for sending him in there. 

Which, reminded him, he was supposed to send the Hero in there at one point. One thing at a time, he’d concern himself with that later. 

Letting out a long breath he leaned back against the tree he had made himself home in, watching out over Hyrule Field. The sun was still up but he hadn’t slept in a few days, having been run ragged by both Ganondorf and Impa with preparations for the Hero. He wanted to take the time that he could because the moment the Hero was back out of there Sheik needed to be on the move again. 

His eyes closed and he listened to the sounds around him, picking up the monsters in the distance and the sound of running water. Hyrule might be a dark place right now but the sun shined like it didn’t care. Sheik could barely remember a time before Ganondorf, what Hyrule looked like full of people, but what he could remember of it left an aching place in his heart. 

When he was young they didn’t often frequent Castle Town, though the Castle itself was a place he was in quite a bit. Training to be a Sheikah Warrior meant shadowing Impa and the Princess. Impa wasn’t an easy teacher either, if he messed up she certainly let him know it. Nothing he did was ever quite up to her standards but never once had Sheik failed. Certainly that meant something. 

No, that wasn’t quite true. He’d consider the disaster of the Shadow Temple a failure. He never reached the end, had gotten horribly hurt, and fled with tears in his eyes. 

He was thirteen, but a coward. Sheik hated that place, not that it stood as a great reminder for his people of anything good. At the very least he made it inside it and to a certain point, even if Impa was disappointed. Honestly though, he was always disappointing to her. 

An owl hooted in the distance and Sheik let out a breath, trying to force his racing mind to calm. A few hours, he only needed a few hours of sleep and he’d be able to move again. 

He’s not sure if he simply entered a meditative state or slept but by the time he opened his eyes the sun was setting and the world fell quiet. Sheik sat up from against the tree and twisted his body around to slip from the branch. Stretching his limbs he worked out the kinks in his body and made for the Temple of Time. If the Hero succeeded, he should be there. 

[ △ ]

Sheik waited by the sword's resting place and from where he stood could see the Hero enter the door. Their gazes met across the distance and Link made his way through the temple, into the room where Sheik waited. This distance between them seemed to keep getting smaller as the Hero deemed him less of a threat. This time he waited just a few steps away, at the base of the pedestal. His face didn’t seem that relaxed anymore, a haunted almost pained expression reflected on him. 

Seeing as the Hero wouldn’t speak first this time, Sheik spoke up. “You destroyed the wicked monsters that haunted the temple and awakened the sage. But there are still other sages that need your help. In order to awaken the other sages you must become more powerful. You must travel over mountains, underwater… and even through time.” Sheik looked beside him and motioned toward the sword's resting place. “If you wish to return to your original time, return the Master Sword to the pedestal of time. By doing this you will travel back in time seven years.” 

“Slow down, hold on.” Link took a few steps back and looked to the pedestal before up to Sheik. “I can return to being twelve years old, to when I first took the sword. But how will that help me become stronger? I thought the point of me--sleeping seven years was to become stronger?” 

He did not miss the way Link hesitated with the word sleeping. Just what did happen to him those seven years he was gone? Even the prophecy seemed vague. He hoped, honestly, that the Goddesses were kind to him. They definitely weren’t right now. “According to the prophecy… you can affect Hyrule as a child and impact the future. By doing something seven years ago, you can change the future. However, you’ll want to be careful what you do because of that. Does that make sense?” 

Instantly Link shook his head. “I’m sorry, it’s really hard to follow you right now. The Deku Scrub just--told me I’m not even a Kokiri. Everything seems to be unraveling around me.” Oh, he had assumed in a way that such a thing would be obvious when Link grew. The Kokiri didn’t age, they were only forest spirits. Link aged because he was a Hylian. 

“If it’s any consolation,” he hesitated, teeth digging into the inside of his cheek. “You grew into a very handsome Hylian and I’m sure your parents and the Great Deku Tree--would be proud of the person you’re becoming.” He watched the Hero’s eyes widen, a look of surprise blooming on his face. His eyes lit up, much like they had when he smiled at Sheik, and the Warrior could feel his own face warming. “You didn’t run from the Forest Temple, you didn’t let yourself perish in there. You overcame everything thrown at you with courage, that is something worth being proud of.” 

The smile was back, brighter and fiercer than before. The Hero blinked away tears, rubbed his face with his gauntlet and took a few more steps toward Sheik. “Thank you, and I mean that. I--feel a lot better.” It oddly made him feel good to hear that, to see the Hero smile. “Despite all the frowns and narrowing eyes you’re actually a kind person aren’t you, Sheik?” 

Okay, it was time to move on from this conversation. “Hero, the time will come when you need to return to this place quickly.” 

“And back to business he is!” That was the annoying fairy, Sheik ignored her.

“I will teach this to you for when that time comes. The song to return you to the Temple of Time... The Prelude of Light.” The harp was retrieved from his back and Sheik once again rested it in his arms. He tested a few strings, tuned what needed to be from his nap in a tree, and then started to play the Prelude of Light. There was power in this song, not just for teleportation. It could summon actual light, chase out the darkness and even in some cases create paths. There was more to this gentle and light tune than just teleportation magic, secrets that not even Sheik had uncovered in his years of studying it. 

When he looped back around a second time Link joined in and together they played the duet. Sheik was getting used to these moments, when they played together. They were probably going to be the most enjoyable parts of this journey. Later he wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up looking forward to seeing them. He wondered if the Hero would think the same at some point. The song ended and Sheik put the harp back behind his back, looking to the Hero. 

“As long as you hold the Ocarina of Time and the Master Sword, you hold time itself in your hands.” Sheik reached into his suit and felt around for a Deku Nut. Pulling it out he threw it to the ground as he spoke. “Hero, we shall meet again.” 

[ △ ]

Ganondorf wasn’t happy. Sheik narrowly avoided a sword to the gut as it embedded itself in the wall beside him. He’d reported to Impa and Zelda first, updating them on the Hero’s progress and then walked into this nightmare. Surprisingly all things considered it wasn’t even him that Ganondorf was mad at but the Moblin’s and the Shadow he sent after Link that failed. Sheik just happened to be a nicely aimed target for his rage. Something he’d grown quite used to. Honestly, his dodging abilities have definitely increased since he started this spying thing. 

“A child! He’s a child! How did we lose against a child?” Well, from the sounds of it, said child might not actually be a child. Sheik had no idea what happened during those seven years but Link’s hesitance over the word ‘sleeping’ made him wonder if that was just a kind version of whatever the Goddesses did to him. There was an idea, in his head, that he entered an illusionary world created by the Goddesses to help him advance. Sheik had seen him swing that sword, abilities like that didn’t come naturally. He didn’t care what type of Hero or prodigy someone was. Those were expert swordsmanship abilities. Sheik wasn’t even that good and he was actually trained by a Master Swordsman. 

“If I may.” He spoke carefully, choosing each syllable like it might be his last. That was quite possible. “Perhaps fighting light with shadows was not the best choice.” 

“If I wanted your opinion, Blood Eye, I would have asked for it.” The back of Ganondorf’s hand connected with his face and Sheik’s teeth tug into his lower lip. He could have dodged it, he knew better. Because the next hit, he wouldn’t have. His eyes fell shut and the man moved away, making his way back to the chair at the head of the room. Turning his face back he looked at the Evil King who waved his hand toward the door. The monsters there clamored out, practically tripping over each other to escape. How he’d loved to have been one of them. “I guess, if shadows don’t work, we’ll just burn him.” 

What?

[ △ ]

He lied. What he hated more than being lost in the woods was volcanoes. Why, why did a temple have to be located in the middle of an active volcano? Who thought that was a good idea? Not the Sheikah! Not any Hylian with a single bit of sense in them! Sheik closed his eyes and stayed where he was against a rock, the heat of it not at all helping him but giving him a chance to catch his breath. His throat burned, his head burned, his skin burned--oh, it felt like he was boiling alive from the inside. That was not at all a comfortable feeling. 

Reaching to his hip he pulled off the waterskin he had and drank down what was left before moving again. Sheik jumped across the rocks, landing on the other side and looking out toward a bridge. There was a lot of red in here but that moving bit of blonde cloaked in red was quite noticeable. Looking around he used a metal pole on the other side of the volcano to catch him when he threw himself and swung down to the bridge. Link startled, stepped back and then instantly relaxed when he spotted Sheik. 

“I have to ask, are you stalking me?” The Sheikah startled so hard at the question that he nearly knocked himself off of the bridge with a jerking motion. Link, finding his reaction funnier than anything, started laughing hard. He shook his head, straightened himself back up and then finally looked at Sheik more closely. “Joking! But aren’t you hot? Navi said I’d boil to death in here without a flameguard.” 

Was that what was happening to him? That made sense why his blood felt alive then. “Horrendously.” Briefly Sheik fanned himself and swallowed uselessly. This place was dehydrating him faster than Impa’s training regiment. “I’m more used to very, very, cold places.” He wasn’t even sure ice was colder than the Shadow Temple. Or maybe it was colder on just an entirely different level. 

“Are you… okay? Your face might be as red as your eyes right now.” 

“Honestly?” Link nodded. “I’m a bit dizzy.” He watched the Hero’s eyes widen and feel around his pockets for something. Pulling out his own waterskin he offered it out to Sheik who shook his head and swallowed again to find his words. “It’s something that grows over time, a true friendship.” 

“Link, if he passes out, we can warp him somewhere safe.” Despite Navi’s interrupting words the Hero did not look comforted. Sheik again ignored the pest.

“A feeling in the heart that becomes even stronger over time. The passion of friendship will soon blossom into righteous power and through it you will know which way to go. This song is dedicated to the power of the heart, listen to the Bolero of Fire.” He retrieved his harp again and plucked the notes. This song was perhaps his favorite, the power in the notes vibrating not only through him but through the entire volcano. When he was learning the songs he played this one more than any other. It was definitely a fun one to perform when Link joined in and Sheik enjoyed watching him, his eyes closed in that concentrated state he entered when learning from Sheik. 

All too soon the song ended and with it the adrenaline that was pushing Sheik through the unbearable heat. He tucked the harp away, the instrument nearly tumbling from his shaking fingers as his head spun. Link took a few steps forward, reaching out toward him with that concerned gaze and on pure reflex Sheik cast Din’s Fire. the flames made a wall that separated them and he blindly reached for a Deku Nut. It hit the bridge, blinding Link again, and Sheik fled the volcano before he actually boiled alive. 

Making his way to the fairy beside the entrance he toppled over into the pool of water and let his overheating body cool itself in the calming water. He didn’t mean to fall asleep in it, and he was glad he landed on his back, but the relaxing feeling after that horrible experience was apparently enough to lull his exhausted body into a place of rest. At least the fairies would heal his bruising cheek and split lip. 

Even Sheik isn’t quite sure how long he slept, it had to be more than his normal three to four hours considering how soaked his body was when his eyes finally managed to open. There were fairies hovering over his body, one comfortably resting on his chest above his heart and several others floating above his head. Sheik blinked a few times and closed his eyes again, letting awareness return to his body in bits and pieces. He twitched his fingers, stretched his arms and then opened his gaze again. 

As he tried to sit up a hand settled on his shoulder and moved to assist him. Normally this would be a cause for alarm, however even as tired as he was Sheik knew only three people that could enter these places and two of them were impossible options. He got into a sitting position and shifted his gaze to the side, blinking at the Hero of Time kneeling in the pool of water. “If it wasn’t for the fairies I’d honestly think you were dead for a moment there.” 

“Hero. The temple?” Sheik reached a hand up and ran it through his hair, dragging his braid over his shoulder to fall against his chest. 

“Don’t worry, I’m on it, just wanted to stop and rest for a few moments. Even with the tunic it’s hot in there.” He tugged on the collar of his red Goron tunic, fanning himself. “So I came here and spotted you. The fairies are fond of you, did you know that? Navi told me.” No, he didn’t know that, and he honestly had no idea why that would be. Sheik briefly glanced at a floating pink bulb before turning his gaze back to the Hero. He smiled at Sheik and sat down on the edge of the pond. “Are you alright?” 

“I’m fine.” He went to stand, stumbled, and ended up sitting right back in the water. “I’ll be fine.” The correction drew a laugh from the Hero who again offered out his water and a bit of jerky. This time Sheik took the items, knowing that he needed his own strength as much as Link himself did. “I have some travel supplies I can give you.” 

Link waved off his offer with a shake of his head. “There is plenty more, that stuff tends to go bad before I eat it anyway.” A silenced lapsed over them at that as Sheik ate, his gaze focused on the glowing and fading light of the fairies' spring. He wasn’t sure how they did it, what this place was made of, and it made him curious. But that wasn't something he was taught because it wasn't vital to his mission. 

The food was finished and Sheik moved his mask back into place. Face hidden again he turned himself back around. The Hero shifted and leaned closer to Sheik, watching him with an intensity that was missed before. Sheik shifted in the pond to face him and narrowed his gaze. "Can I ask something?" Well, Sheik had yet to deny him that, why start now? His lack of a reply seemed like a good enough response to the Hero. "Why are you helping me? You risked yourself quite a bit to teach me that song, and why did it have to be in that spot? Couldn't you have taught me outside the volcano?" 

"No. The magic… you need to ground yourself in the place the song takes you to. Technically speaking as long as you play the song once at the warp spot you're fine, you don't need me, but it seems more convenient to teach you when you get there. Besides, the prophecy tells me where to teach it." He shakes his head and looks at Link. "Which is why I'm helping you. My destiny is entwined with yours, this is my job. As it is yours to save Hyrule." Though, truthfully, he would have done this even if he wasn't supposed to. Sheik wanted to help, and the more he watched Link the more that help turned from Hyrule to the Hero. 

He needed someone. If that scene in the Temple of Time proved anything. He was going through a lot, Sheik didn't mind being that anchor if it's what he needed. Link frowned and turned his head away, gaze falling to the water and the moving fairies around. "Your job is to help me?" 

"Specifically to teach you the songs. The prophecy calls me a Guide. I have to keep you on your journey and help where permitted, teach you the songs that will aid you on your quest." Link nodded though still didn't seem happy for some reason. "Are you alright?"

"I thought… I know it's silly but… I thought you'd be my friend." Sheik blinked and couldn't stop his eyes from widening in shock. He was glad the Hero wasn't looking at him right now. "After your speech about friendship. I guess I got the wrong idea." 

No. He wanted to say no. His mouth opened to speak the words, tongue heavy and cotton like. He can hear Impa's voice in his head, telling him that's not wrong, that they're not supposed to be friends. He has a specific list of rules to follow and at the very top of that damned list is; "keep your distance, Sheik, you're not to distract the Hero from his quest". He can't be friends, he's not supposed to be friends, Impa would be pissed. The Hero stands and Sheik feels his head pound. Speak, his mind screams, don't let him leave thinking that. 

Link's back turns to him. It's not right to throw him out there, blind and alone. He thought that as a child, thought this was the pathetic cowards way of doing things. Watching from a distance, safeguarding him, playing little songs. 

Sheik is a warrior, he is not and never will be, a coward. "Hero, can you keep a secret?" The man pauses and looks over his shoulder at Sheik confused. "Impa will kill me if she thinks I'm distracting you. So I won't tell, if you don't tell, that we're friends." 

The smiles back, brighter than the sun. It's drowning out Sheik's shadow. 

[ △ ]

Ganondorf thought it would be fun to freeze the Zora's beneath the water. That was it, that was the entire reason he did it. There was no benefit to freezing Zora's Domain. The Zora weren't fighting back, in fact they were content to stay quiet and in their little pond as long as Ganondorf left them alone. The Princess, Ruto, was having the time of her life just swimming around. And Ganondorf, bored of waiting for the Hero, sends some Wizzro to just--freeze the entire Domain. 

Not for the first time he wondered if Ganondorf was truly evil or just psychotic. Sometimes he didn't seem evil he just seemed like a ten year old on a power kick. Like now, as Sheik stood in the middle of Zora's Domain gazing down at the ice. 

Saving Ruto was not an easy task, quite the opposite. It took nearly every single but of strength he had to create a hole in the magical ice to pull her from. Sheik dragged her from her frozen grave, tossed her on top of the ice and dropped the magic, sealing the hole back up. This is going to be hard to explain to Ganondorf, hopefully he doesn't ask and Ruto keeps herself hidden. 

Ruto sat up on the ground, a shaking and trembling mess. She still had ice on her fins and struggled to sit up but still tried to hold herself as a royal. Ruto coughed, rubbed her arms hard and shakily looked to Sheik. "Brave knight, you saved me. Clearly you deserve some kind of reward. Alas, my heart is taken by another, but--" 

"I don't need that, just advice would be useful. I'm helping the Hero of Time--"

"Oh, my fiance, Link!" 

...what?

Sheik breathed in, out, and continued. "The entrance to the Water Temple, it's beneath Lake Hylia which is currently in a drought. Not enough for Link to enter the Temple however. There's no real easy way to get in there if you're not a Zora. Do you have an idea of what he could do?" 

Ruto frowned and tapped the sides of her arms, watching Sheik. After a bit of thinking she snapped her fingers and grinned. "The Zora Tunic! The shop sells them for quite a Rupee, but my father has one he'd give Link. It'll allow Link, my fiance you know, to breathe beneath water! Oh, and he can get boots that'll help him sink from the Ice Cavern here. It's outside where Lord Jabu Jabu used to live." 

"Thank you, Princess, that's very helpful." Sheik gave her a proper bow and then showed himself out, intending to find the Hero and direct him toward where he needed to go. He reached Hyrule Field and paused near a tree, pulling his travel map out that he's been using to mark the Hero's places. He's starred the places Link frequents the most, including Kakariko Village and the potion shop, as well as a few Fairy Fountains. Sheik looked the map over, squinted and tried to think of where the Hylian would be right now.

Sheik turned his gaze toward Kakariko and looked up toward Death Mountain. The flames that had circled it were gone, making the sky calm, and he wondered if Link was still in Kakariko Village. He’d been so busy trying to save Princess Ruto after hearing what Ganondorf did to the Zora that he’d completely missed the Hero saving the Goron’s. Or at least, what was left of them. Darunia’s son might be the only Goron left as far as he was aware. 

Satisfied he had at least a starting idea, Sheik rolled the map up and tucked it back inside his suit before starting toward Kakariko Village. He only made it to the bridge when the sound of quick and approaching hooves stopped him in his tracks. Reflexively his body tensed, the instinctive reaction to fearing it was Ganondorf and that monster of a beast he rode.

“Sheik!” Navi, the fairy, called his name and the fear immediately left his body but the tension didn’t. He spun around, hand falling to a Dirk and was instantly released when he spotted the slumped over Hero on the back of the horse. Taking a few steps forward he reached his hands up and caught the reins that dangled down, pulling the horse toward him as he made calming sounds. 

“Woah, hey, you’re alright girl. You’re safe. Easy now.” She snorted in his face and Sheik didn’t flinch, just slowly moved his hands toward her face to stroke her snout and maine. As he calmed the horse he tried to catch a look at Link. “Navi, what happened?” 

“This is Epona, a horse from Lon Lon Ranch! Link tried to save her from the man that’s currently tormenting the animals there.” 

“Ingo?” The fairy bobbed toward him in a motion that Sheik could only assume was a nod. 

“You know him? No, wait, not the time for questions! When Link was escaping Ingo shot him!” 

Epona, now calmed, nuzzled her snout into Sheik’s palms and he calmly took the reins to guide her toward Kakariko. “Epona hm? Listen Epona, I need to help the boy that saved you. Can you follow me? That’s it, come on.” She was easy to nudge toward the bridge and Sheik guided her toward the stairs that lead to Kakariko. He’d have to carry Link the rest of the way but at the very least he didn’t have much further to go, just Impa’s house. 

Sheik helped Link down off of Epona’s back, setting him on the ground. He got a good look at all the arrows in the Hero’s body and grimaced. Most of them were in his arms and back, probably from when he fled. He didn’t think Ingo had that type of aim in him but armed with Ganondorf’s magic that gave him this power to chase Talon off his own ranch… he probably shouldn’t be surprised. With an arm wrapped around Link’s waist he huffed him up, half over the Sheikah’s body and supported on his shoulders. He turned to Epona. “Epona, you need to go somewhere to keep yourself safe, do you understand? You can’t stay here.” By some magic the horse apparently understood because she took off running. 

Getting Link up all the stairs to Kakariko was harder than when Impa made him jog them with buckets of water. He wasn’t easy to carry let alone drag unconsciously up the steps. He made it though, covered in sweat and the Hero’s blood, but he made it. Sheik ignored the stares he got and dragged Link to Impa’s house, kicking the door open and starting Coco in her cage. Getting Link to the bed on the first floor he deposited the Hero onto it and started removing his belts. 

“Hey! What are you doing?” 

“Saving his life or would you rather I leave him here to bleed out?” Sheik tossed the belts onto the floor and started rolling Link to yank the arrows from his body. He flinched and cried out every time Sheik removed one from his body but he never woke up, that wasn’t a good thing. 

“What about a Fairy Fountain?” 

“You can’t warp directly to them and finding one while dragging Link around isn’t ideal. The closest one I can warp to is in the Forest which would mean fighting the moblins there and carrying Link to it. Since going there, getting one and running back would either take longer or the same amount of time. Time he doesn’t have.” The tunic was dragged off and tossed with the arrows on the floor. “The bed he’s laying in is already saturated in blood, if you hadn’t noticed. Don’t worry, I can treat him but you need to stop bothering me Navi.” 

The fairy huffed and floated down to rest at the edge of the bed, finally leaving Sheik to do what he needed to do. He rolled the Hero onto his chest and left to get a tub of warm water and cloth along with the first aid supplies. Considering how many times he dragged himself in here on the brink of death he was fully prepared for situations like this. 

With the supplies needed he returned to the Hero and knelt down beside him, wetting the cloth and placing it on the Hero’s skin. He took his time knowing that ensuring his wounds were cleaned would prevent infection later which even Fairies had a hard time healing. There were some things that only a Great Fairy could cure and disease was one of them. The sun was already setting by the time he finished bandaging and changing the sheets of the bed Link was in, rolling up the blood soaked ones and tossing them into the fireplace. Navi had been quiet throughout the entire thing and he could tell she was worried for Link. 

“I need to kickstart the healing process, I’m going to make him a red potion.” He had the supplies in his bag, a habit of keeping them on him with everything going on. The little fairy perked up at that and flew over to his head, hovering around him much like he had seen her do to Link. 

“You can do that!?” 

“Mm, Granny taught me. She got tired of me dragging myself into her shop bleeding out.” Navi made a startled sound at his words and Sheik realized he definitely said too much. He started dumping the supplies onto the counter hoping she would just ignore what it was he said. 

“Granny? Like your own Grandmother?” At least she did choose to not comment on the second part. 

“No, Granny’s the wife of Mutoh the carpenter. She runs a shop here in Kakariko, a secret one that sells potions. Impa knew her, and I’ve known her since I was a child. She watched me grow up.” In fact when Impa gave him tasks that tended to be too difficult that ended up in Sheik getting hurt, she’d often patch him up. It’s definitely why she put up with him dragging his bleeding and battered body into her shop. She taught him apothecary in the hopes he’d lessons his visits to her, but he knew if he returned she’d always patch him up. 

The potion turned a nice shade of red in the pot and Sheik removed it from the burner, pouring the liquid into the glass bottles he had. Sheik managed to fill a good five and capped four of them, slipping them into Link’s bag before taking the last one. He gave it a few minutes to set and chill, the last thing he wanted was to burn Link and give him more problems. 

Wanting to bide his time he pulled the harp out and rested it in his arm as he took a seat beside the Hero once more. He started to play and Navi rested on his shoulder, listening to the song loop itself through as he performed. The song seemed to help Link too who turned his head in his sleep and let out a comfortable sigh. Sheik watched him as he played, finding the comfortable expression on his face a relief considering the amount of pain he had clearly been in earlier. The song came to an end and he placed the harp back away before picking up the potion bottle. It was a comfortable warmth now which was much better. 

“Hey Sheik, what song was that? It’s not one you taught Link!” 

“The Song of Healing, I haven’t been able to make it work like it’s supposed to though. At least it seems to have eased the Hero’s mind.” Sheik propped Link up and braced his body against his own chest. Tipping the potion to the Hero’s lips he tried to get him to drink it down. Link, in his unconscious state, wasn’t very cooperative and the potion started spilling down the side of his lips. 

Sheik frowned and moved it away, looking to the Hero’s face. He needed a different plan of doing this. Deciding the best course of action was a direct one Sheik reached up and pulled the mask down to settle beneath his cowl. Tipping the potion back he dumped it into his own mouth and then sat the vial aside. With his left hand he turned Link’s face toward him and then sealed his mouth over the Hero’s. As he pushed the red potion into Link’s mouth his right hand massaged the Hero’s throat and coaxed him into swallowing the potion. 

It worked and Link swallowed the potion down, getting the much needed red potion into his body and easing the Sheikah’s worries. Pulling back he settled the Hero back down into the bed and pulled the blanket over his body. “He should be alright now, I’ve done what I can and it should be more than enough. His wounds should close thanks to the red potion and after some resting his body will recover from the blood loss.” 

Navi bobbed in excitement and settled down on top of Link’s chest. Sheik fixed his mask and cowl back into place before standing to clean up. “Hey Sheik! Why do you wear that? You have a nice face!” 

“Customs and rules.” Impa told him to wear it and he has since he was a child. Not even the Princess has seen his face. It’s Sheik’s job to be nothing more than a shadow to guide the Hero. With things cleaned up Sheik turned to look back to Navi and the sleeping Hero. “I’ll be upstairs in the bed there, if something changes in the Hero’s state come wake me.” 

He didn’t let himself sleep for long, a couple hours at most. A chance to rest his head at most was what he needed. When he felt a bit better and the sun was rising Sheik climbed back down from the second level and made his way outside. He got some Cucco eggs from Arie and returned back to the house, settling into the kitchen. He cooked an omelet for himself and ate it while he gave Link enough time to rest, letting the sun rise a bit higher. When it was a good near afternoon he tossed the rest of the eggs onto the stove and made another omelet for Link. 

The food was dumped onto a plate and he carried it over to the Hero’s side, settling himself beside him once more. Sheik placed a hand on his shoulder and this time the touch was enough to startle Link. He felt him tense in the bed before his eyes snapped open. He let out a cry of pain when he tried to move too soon and Navi bounced on his chest. 

“Link! You mustn't move so quickly! You’ll undo all of Sheik’s hard work!” 

“Sheik?” This time when he opened his eyes he didn’t try to flee, instead he looked over to the side and blinked his piercing blue gaze at Sheik. “Oh, Sheik.” 

“Mm, I’m glad to see you’re awake. Here, you need to eat this.” He motioned to the food on the table beside Link along with the cup of Milk. “It’ll help. Let me sit you up.” With Link’s assistance maneuvering the Hero was a lot easier. Link ate the food like a starving man and Sheik settled himself at the desk underneath a window where his harp rested. He plucked a few stings on it, no real tune formed just aimless motions that he used to keep himself from staring at Link. 

The Hero finished his milk and sat the dirty dishes aside on the table once more before quietly asking Navi what happened to him. At this Sheik perked up, head angled slightly toward them and fingers stilling the vibrations of the harp. “Ah, you got shot by Ingo escaping Lon Lon Ranch and Epona carried you toward Kakariko Village. We spotted Sheik leaving Zora’s River and I got his attention. Sheik did really well with Epona. I think she likes him!” 

Link made an appreciative sound and glanced briefly toward him. “Epona doesn’t like many people, that’s a tall compliment. She only likes me because of a song that Malon, the stables owner's daughter, taught me.” 

“And then,” Navi continued before Sheik could inquire about the song. Music was always a good way of getting his attention. “Sheik carried you all the way here and tended to your wounds. He’s really good at that! He made a red potion and got you to drink it and everything!” 

“I see.” There’s a soft smile on his face when he turns to look at Sheik this time, head inclined in a nod. “It seems I owe you my life, Sheik.” 

“No, not at all. It’s because of you risking your life for all of us that Hyrule has a chance at being saved. Doing what I can to help you is the least I can do.” Sheik turned his gaze back down to the harp and plucked another string on it, letting the gentle sound vibrate into the room. 

“Hey, you worked really hard to save him! Link, you should have seen how hard it was to give you the red potion! Sheik had to use his mouth--” his fingers pulled a string particularly hard and made a terrible sound with it, making even himself flinch at the roughness of it. He turned his head toward the window further, wondering if he should just jump out of it. He needed to change Link’s bandages though. 

There was silence after Sheik stilled the vibration of the harp, fingers curling over it digging the strings into his skin. There was the sound of shuffling, Link moving around in the bed and then the Hero’s quiet inquiring voice. “His… mouth? Navi?” 

“Huh? Oh! You weren’t drinking from the bottle so Sheik poured it into his own mouth and then into yours!” At this moment he was quite glad he couldn’t see the Hero’s face. “I thought it was a clever idea!”

“Clever… yeah… Sheik?” He didn’t move, didn’t make a sound, but Link seemed to realize he was listening. “You know,” there seemed to be a playful edge to his tone suddenly and that was enough to make the Sheikah turn a bit. “That was my first kiss.” 

“That was not a kiss.” He defended suddenly, standing from the desk and pulling the chair over to the side of Link’s bed. He sat down on it and looked to the Hero. “That was me saving your life. I did what I had to do.” 

“Sure, I believe you.” The Hero grinned this time and Sheik turned his head away, feeling his face flush underneath the mask. Impa was right, the mask was definitely quite useful. At least right now. 

The Hero laughed, a soft and cheerful sound that caused the Sheikah to flush even harder, his face burning up beneath his mask. “Sheik, did you know your ears turn red?” No, he didn’t and he really hated that right now. “I’m kind of jealous though, you know? That means Navi got to see your face and I didn’t.” Link turned a bit and leaned over in the bed, catching Sheik’s gaze as he looked up at him. “But mostly I’m jealous of myself. I think you owe me a kiss I’ll actually remember.” 

His eyes widened and Sheik snapped his head back over to Link, unable to hide the surprise in his gaze. He had to be joking, he did. His mouth opened and Sheik somehow found his voice. “You remember what I said, don’t you?” 

“That you’re not supposed to be distracting me, which just fuels my point even further. I’ll only be able to think about it at this rate. You see my point, Sheik?” 

The Sheikah frowned and turned his head away from Link, hands clenching in his lap. “I can see that you’re manipulating me.” No, that wasn’t fair, the Hero was just teasing him and Sheik could see that. A sigh fell from his lips and he leaned back in the chair, releasing his grip on his pant legs. Perhaps the problem wasn’t Link but Sheik and the fact that he knew on some level that he actually wanted to do what the Hero was asking of him. 

Impa would be incredibly disappointed in him. 

“Sheik--” 

“Close your eyes.” The Hero blinked and Sheik kept his gaze focused on the window. He waited, unwilling to repeat himself and after a few minutes he saw from the corner of his eyes the Hero did as was requested. Sheik reached to the floor, grabbing the Hero’s cap off of it, shaking it out as he stood from his chair. “Excuse me Navi.” He swept the fairy up, ignoring her very heavy protests and tied the end of the cap. With his right knee pressed into the bed he leaned over the Hero to place Navi beside him and then reached up toward his own face. The mask was tugged down beneath the cowl and he turned his gaze toward the still quiet Hero. 

This was going to be a mistake, he already knew that and yet there was nothing in his heart telling him to stop. Just his head, his sense of duty that sounded terrifyingly like his mother. A guide, distance, don’t be a distraction, nothing more than a shadow--was there any rule he hadn’t broken yet?

The answer to that question was almost enough to make him stop. 

He didn’t though. Instead of following his brain Sheik turned to face the Hero fully and took a seat against his hip. Link twitched and Sheik could tell he was fighting to keep his eyes shut, it was actually quite impressive to Sheik that he didn’t open them yet. The curiosity had to be eating away at him. He felt his lips twitch into a smile of his own and took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

Shifting forward he placed his right palm flat against the Hero’s chest and leaned forward. He didn’t hesitate, he couldn’t because the doubt kept filling his mind. If he stopped to think, if he hesitated any longer, he wasn’t going to do it. So Sheik continued to lean toward the Hero until he felt his lips touch the others. They weren’t as soft as he thought they would be, in fact Link’s lips were quite dry probably because of how long he slept. 

As he went to pull back Link grasped his face in both of his own hands and pulled him closer. His breath caught, head jerking in response and the Hero gently brushed his thumbs against Sheik’s cheek bones. It was a soft caress, something done to just get Sheik to relax, and frightfully it was actually working. The kiss Link incited was harder than the one Sheik gave, less of a caress and more of a desperate pressure. 

They pulled back a moment later, not going any further and with that slight distance Link allowed between them he spoke, lips still grazing Sheik’s own. “I can feel your heart racing.” That wasn’t fair, his thumbs were resting on Sheik’s pulse in his neck of course he could feel it. 

He swallowed, a motion Link undoubtedly felt, and sucked in a breath. “For someone who claims I stole their first kiss you're better at this than I am." Link laughed against him, a slow and amused sound. 

He hummed and leaned forward a bit, letting his lips once more drag across Sheik's. The motion did nothing to calm his heart, his fingers reacting to the soft motion of the Hero's lips by curling around the bandages. 

Bandages. 

That reminder was enough for Sheik to pull himself away, grasping the ends of his mask and yanking it up before the Hero opened his eyes. His blue gaze locked on Sheik's face, a pout on his own at spotting the mask. "What's wrong?"

"I have to change your bandages, and you might want to free Navi." Quickly fleeing from the bed Sheik returned to the desk and started gathering his supplies as the Hero released his fairy. 

Since Link was now capable of sitting up it made the process of cleaning and bandaging his wounds so much easier. He had the Hero turn his back to him and he removed the old bandages, cleaned the healing wounds and then wrapped him back up. “The potion seemed to have done it’s work, your wounds are scabbed over and mostly healed. As long as you don’t move too much you should be fine. Which yes, I understand given your position, is not an easy thing to request. You might want to take your time walking to your next task slowly.” 

“Huh, never thought you of all people would encourage me to take my time.” Link tugged his tunic back on over his body and blinked at the stitches in it. “Did you--” 

“I had some time so I cleaned and patched up your Kokiri Tunic. I know you have the Goron one but--” 

“No, no, I--really appreciate that, thank you.” The smile is gentle again as Link runs his fingers over one of the stitches Sheik did. “You did a really good job. I like this tunic, it’s important to me.” It was a reminder of where he had come from, of who he was, Sheik could understand that. The Eye of Truth was much the same for him. A reflection of his people, much like his name. 

With the Hero now dressed and Sheik having ensured he will survive, it was time now for them to part. Sheik moved over to the desk and picked up the harp, slipping it back into his place behind him. Making sure it was safe he turned back to the Hero and saw realization on his face of what was coming next. “Hero, it’s time for us to part. You must make your way to Zora’s Domain. There, from King Do Bon you will acquire a much needed item to enter the Water Temple. But first, you must make your way to the cavern in the back of Zora’s Domain.” He found a Deku Nut in his suit and pulled it out. “We will meet again.” 

[ △ ]

The Ice Cavern was a nasty place. Not difficult, per say, but tedious. The cold at least was something he was familiar with. Sheik’s fingers trembled, felt like ice cubes against his skin, but was better than the heat of Death Mountain. At least if you asked him, if you asked Link who he spotted earlier Death Mountain was probably easier. He was shaking so hard that he knocked himself off of one of the ice blocks he had to climb. 

The Red Ice that trapped King Do Bon was a creation of Ganondorf’s. Sheik had watched him create it, had been the test subject for it, and was quite glad to not be trapped in it. It was different from actual ice, for just the single fact that normal fire couldn’t melt it. Being trapped in it however was the same experience as actual ice. In a way it was an unmeltable ice, they were lucky enchanted fire was it’s weakness. 

Enchanted Fire, the blue flames that were created from Zora Magic, could be bottled and the bottle would never heat. It was strange and it was the only flames that didn’t dry the Zora out. They didn’t cast a heat which was why the cold blooded Zora used it. 

Sheik slid into the room with the Iron Boots and stood beside the chest, fixing his clothes and throwing his braid back over his shoulder. The weight at the end settled it down against the middle of his back and he frowned at the chest. Iron Boots, hopefully Link didn’t get himself hurt with them. They weighed you down so much that it would be easy to take a wrong step in these old temples and drop to your death. He wouldn’t think of that. 

The door opened behind him and Sheik turned, crimson gaze finding the Hero’s ocean blue. Navi excitedly flew over to Sheik, hovering by his head in greeting. “We meet again, Hero. How are your wounds?” 

“Better. I took my time in getting here like you said and none of them opened. I think they’re pretty much healed by now, I don’t feel that annoying itchy tugging.” Sheik nodded his head pleased and the Hero flashed him a smile. “You snuck red potions into my bag. Navi told me. They… came in handy here, thank you.” 

“It’s fine, no burden on my part.” He glanced to the side of the Ice Cavern and then returned his gaze to the Hero. “As I’m sure you noticed the Zora are gone, I’m afraid this is all that remains of them.” He motioned to the ground and Link dropped his gaze, looking to the frozen water that couldn’t be seen through. “With one exception the Zora are now sealed under this thick ice.” 

“That’s horrible. So this Ice Cavern?” 

“Wasn’t always an ice cavern. In your time I believe it was a place of worship for the Zora to the Goddess Nayru. The blue fire you saw is enchanted flames, they create a light that doesn’t cause heat that would dry the Zora out.” Link nodded in understanding and lifted his gaze back to Sheikah. The Warrior moved on. “I managed to rescue the Zora Princess from beneath the ice but she left for the Water Temple. This ice is created by an evil curse and the source of it is the monster that haunts the Water Temple. Unless you shut off the source, this ice will never melt. If you have courage enough to confront the danger and save the Zora’s, I will teach you the melody that leads to the temple.” 

“Didn’t you give a speech about teaching it in a specific spot for Death Mountain?” Link was grinning, he was teasing Sheik again. “Not that I’m complaining, I like hearing you play.” The flush was back and now that he knew his ears turned red too he was very aware of it. 

“The prophecy said this was the place to teach it, I don’t make the rules.” Though he’s ignored and broken so many of them, did it really matter anymore? Link laughed at him, that soft one he gave when he thought Sheik was being silly. He took a breath, calmed his heart and willed his blush away before looking back to Link. “Time flows, people move. Like a river's flow, it never ends. A childish mind will turn to noble ambitions, young love will become deep affection. The clear waters surface reflects growth.” 

Sheik reached behind him and retrieved the harp from his back, resting it in his arms. Link had a very serious look on his face, as if he was actually trying to think through Sheik’s words. “Hero, listen to the Serenade of Water and reflect upon yourself.” There was something soothing about this song, almost like it was a lullaby. Sheik found the notes it created calming much like water after a storm. It was definitely better played when Link joined in, the Ocarina adding to the soothing melody of the serenade. 

When it came to an end he slipped the harp behind his back and motioned to the chest. Link took the cue, though he watched Sheik a few minutes extra, perhaps expecting his escape, before turning to it. He kicked it open and reached down, hefting the boots up into his arms with a puzzled expression. 

“Link, you’ll drown in these! They look so heavy!”

“They’re supposed to be.” The Hero turned and looked at him, a wide eyed expression on his face. So he did expect Sheik to run when he turned away. “The entrance to the Water Temple is under Lake Hylia. That is where the Serenade of Water will take you when played. To get under the water the Iron Boots will sink you.” Navi floated near him and expecting the question Sheik spoke again. “Like with Death Mountain you’ll need the Zora Armor to breath under the water. To do that, Hero, you need to free King Do Bon. Use the Zora’s Fire.” Reaching into his tunic he pulled a Deku Nut and took a few steps back. 

This was what the Hero was waiting for. Before Sheik had the chance to throw it he dropped the boots and rushed at him, his left hand circling around Sheik’s wrist that held the nut, the hard leather of the gauntlet catching on his bandages and trapping him in place. Sheik tugged at his grip to no avail, finding the Hero definitely had his strength back. “You’re running away again.” 

“It’s not running, you have a job to do, as do I, and I’m not supposed to be distracting you. Which clearly I am doing.” He knew it, he knew indulging the both of them was a terrible idea, he knew it would--lead to something. Sheik practiced and said these speeches to the point they haunted his sleep and never once had he felt them so personally. 

This was his fault. 

“Hero, let me go.” 

“I have a name, do you even know it?” 

He flinched at the harsh tone and turned his face away, gaze locking on the changing colors of the ice that echoed in the Ice Cavern. It reminded him of the fairy fountain. “Let me go.” This time the Hero did, fingers slipping from Sheik’s wrist. It was his turn it seemed to take a few steps away, collecting the Iron Boots off of the ground. Somehow he was rethinking his previous assessment, ice might actually be colder than the shadows. Sheik’s eyes fell closed and he took a breath, grounding himself as best he could before opening his eyes back up. 

The others back was still to him and a void felt like it was growing between them, a hollow break in the usual warmth that was shared between them. That shadow the Hero’s smile was chasing away before seemed to be swallowing him up again. He wondered if this was what Impa meant when she said that the loneliness might get to them, but that he still needed to keep his distance. 

When he was a child he thought he knew what loneliness was, it was nothing compared to the loneliness of being an adult it seemed. 

“Well, aren’t you leaving?”

He found he hated the feeling more now than before. If he had stuck to the rules, if he had followed them like he was supposed to, would the feeling still be there or would Sheik have been saved this horrible pain? The Sheikah took a few steps back, clenching the Deku Nut so hard he heard it crack. “For what it’s worth, I do know your name.” 

When the Hero spun around Sheik found himself frozen in place, Deku Nut still in his grip. “Then why won’t you say it?” 

“Because I’m not supposed to!” A crack, just like the nut, his voice breaking in his throat as he raised it. When was the last time he shouted? Probably the Shadow Temple in fear. Nothing could scare him as much as the horrors he saw in there, not even Ganondorf made him scream like that place did. “There are rules! Rules I’ve broken so many times. I’m supposed to be nothing more than a shadow, someone to point you in the right direction. You’re the Hero, I’m a tool in your belt.” 

He shook his head and took a few steps closer to Sheik, each one forward matched by one backwards. “Well what if I don’t feel that way about this? What if, to me, you mattered more than that?” 

“Then I failed my mission.” The nut crumbled in his hand and Sheik tossed the pieces of it to the floor, brushing his palm off on his suit. “And Impa will deem me inadequate to do my job. Compromised.” 

The Hero had gotten closer in Sheik's distracted state, not that he could have gone anywhere else. He'd hit the door at this point, trapped in the room. He needed another Deku Nut or his harp. "Then I think it's best she just doesn't find out. You're more than a shadow and more than a tool, Sheik. You're a person. I've felt your warm skin, your breath, your heart. A person doesn't deserve to be used." His hand caught Sheik's and the Hero tugged it forward until Sheik's palm rested over his heart. "You matter to me." 

It wasn't fair. He was doing so good. He guided Link, he saved two of the five Sage's, he stopped Death Mountain from destroying them all. Sheik spied on Ganondorf, updated his movements to the Princess, kept the Hero alive. And yet, he failed the first rule he was given. Be a shadow, be a guide, be nothing more. How did it come to this? Did he stay too long? He didn't want to send Link in unprepared. Yet he still screwed up. 

However, Sheik didn't feel that upset. Angry at himself, sure, but that horrible cold feeling from before seemed to have vanished. He didn't feel so deathly alone. A lump in his throat forced him to swallow roughly and Sheik’s gaze met Link’s. “You matter to me too, I’m sorry.” The Deku Nut hit the floor this time, blinding Link and Sheik vanished out the same way that he had come. 

What he apologized for exactly, Sheik wasn’t sure. There were a lot of things he could have meant those words for. 

[ △ ]

Ganondorf wasn’t happy. This was something Sheik was familiar with. The anger, the pain that came with that anger, and being the receiver of it. They played this game often and the first few times Sheik tried avoiding it had always been worse. It ended up being less painful if he took what he was given until the Evil King calmed down. As long as he could stand and walk, he could get himself to a fairy fountain. Thankfully, the fairies never turned him away. 

The Evil King knew he was losing. When Sheik showed up to update him he actually informed Sheik that Ruto had been freed from beneath the water and that the Hero somehow got inside the Water Temple and awakened her. He had thought he was so clever in trapping the Zora’s beneath the water to keep the sage from the temple. Sheik doesn’t for a second believe that was his plan, he wasn’t that clever. 

Sheik though wisely kept his mouth shut which actually did the exact opposite of what he thought it would do. Ganondorf rounded on him like a predator to their prey and stomped his way over, hand clenching on his sword. “You’re keeping an eye on him so you tell me, just how did Princess Ruto escape the ice?”

Oh, this was going to be a bad day. “I don’t know, I lost track of him.” He kept his voice steady, eyes focused on the cruel man before him. He towered over Sheik, having the Gerudo’s height on him. Honestly, Sheik wasn’t even half his height it felt and he carried every single bit of that advantage like a weapon. 

“That isn’t a good enough answer.” 

By the time he got the bleeding to stop Ruto had already been rescued from the Water Temple and Sheik feared he’d be late to the meeting point. The gashes on his chest from the sword weren’t as bad as they probably could be, his armor provided some sort of protection against it. Sheik had given his red potions to Link though and that left him at a significant disadvantage in fixing himself. He’d worry about it later though, the hastily done bandages had to be enough. He couldn’t be late. 

Rushing to grab the harp from his back he played the Serenade of Water with trembling fingers and let the teleportation light take him to the warp pad in Lake Hylia. He landed on top of it with a grimace just as the water started to flow from the temple. Sheik let out a pained breath and straightened up. “As the water rises, the evil is vanishing from the lake. I see, Princess Ruto is indeed awakened.” He heard the sound of light behind him and smiled beneath the mask. 

Link’s quick footsteps echoed on the ground as the Hero rushed out toward him, stopping just a few feet away but within touching range. “Sheik, you’re here.” There was a smile in his voice, one that always seemed to warm the Sheikah’s heart. “Ruto, she wanted to thank you for saving her.” 

“Did she? We have to return peace to Hyrule for her sake too, don’t we? Look at that, together you and Princess Ruto destroyed the evil monster. I’m not sure that would be her idea of a honeymoon under normal circumstances, however.” 

“Sheik!” Link gaped at him and the smile widened more beneath his mask. “What did she tell you?” 

Ignoring the question to see how much more he could work the Hero up, Sheik continued. “Once again the Lake is filled with pure water from the Temple, all is as it was here.” Link moved up to his side to look out at the water like Sheik had been doing. With this angle he took the time to examine the Hero’s body, checking for wounds that he might have gotten inside the temple. Sheik wasn’t privy to all of Ganondorf’s tricks but he knew none of them were ever kind in nature. That he had first hand experience of. 

Link looked good though, his tunic was ripped in a few new places and he was clearly bleeding from somewhere but it wasn’t enough to be life threatening. He’d live, he’d be alright, and Sheik felt he could breathe easier at that. As he took a few steps back Link turned to look at him and followed his movements. “Are you leaving again?” 

“I finished my task, I should.” 

“Mhm… and what if I don’t let you?” 

At that Sheik blinked, his eyes widening as he looked sharply to the Hero. Link approached again and Sheik took several more steps back. Link’s hand reached out, grasped his cowl and stopped him from moving any further. With a yank he pulled Sheik close, tumbling him forward into the Hero’s chest. He lifted his head up to look into those blue eyes and found himself again captured by the Hero’s gaze. He watched him, the way that he seemed to look right through Sheik and into his soul. It was intoxicating, it pulled him in and refused to let him go. 

Somehow, he felt that was Link’s intention right now. 

“Sheik... “ His left hand slid up from the Sheikah’s hip and along his neck, thumb slipping into the fabric of Sheik’s mask. “Please, let me.” 

He shouldn’t, he’s not supposed to, but he can feel his heart pounding away and begging him to let Link do it. He’s already broken so many rules, did hanging onto this last one like a lifeline really change anything? Link was still the Hero, he still freed three of the sages, he still--was fighting to save Hyrule. And he wanted it… by the gods did he want what Link was offering him right now. 

What a selfish person he was. 

“Okay.” 

The feeling of someone else pulling his mask down was an unfamiliar and strange one. The rough feeling of Link’s fingers and gauntlets brushed against his skin as the fabric settled around his neck. Sheik resembled Impa a lot, he knew, his mother often as a child called him her Little Shadow. It wasn’t a nickname he got just for looking like her, of course, it covered several grounds and that was why he knew she liked it so much. When he was little he used to take her makeup and paint the Tribal Symbols on his face like hers. It became too hard to manage though and he gave up. According to Princess Zelda who never saw his full face she could tell he got his looks from his mother by their eyes, they were nearly identical she said. 

Sheik didn’t mind looking like Impa, his mother was a very beautiful person and honestly he wished he had gotten her hair color too. 

Both of Link’s hands held his face, taking in every single inch of it like a man drowning. His thumbs brushed the corners of Sheik’s mouth and then his cheekbones. “You’re very handsome.” Was he expecting something else? It wouldn’t surprise Sheik. When he was little there was a rumor from the guards that he had been wounded on the face and he wore a mask to hide it. Impa told him to ignore them, that petty gossip like that was beneath them. It was why she often got frustrated with the Sheikah Gossip Stones, they never gave her what she wanted. 

There was a reply on the tip of his tongue, his mind searching for something that wasn’t just ‘thank you’, but he missed his chance to form any sort of intelligent sentence when Link sealed his lips over Sheik’s in a kiss. He really liked this kiss, it stole his breath away and warmed every inch of his body. Trying his best he pressed back against the Hero, mouth searching the others as he clung to the blue tunic. Despite being in the water the Tunic was completely dry, perhaps from the Zora’s enchanting. 

The Hero’s hands dropped to his hips, attempting to bring him closer and when Sheik’s hips pressed uncomfortable against the belts and weapons that covered Link’s body he quickly pulled away, biting the inside of his cheek in pain. Alarmed Link dropped his gaze down to Sheik’s body, taking in the quickly darkening color of his suit. Apparently he’d started to bleed through those quickly wrapped bandages. Shit. 

“You’re hurt!” 

He could remind Link that he wasn’t the only one but his eyes caught sight of a Hawk circling above him and any interest in such a thing was quickly lost on him. Sheik yanked his mask back up, settling it properly along his face and gave a sharp whistle into the air. The bird swooped down and Sheik caught it on his forearm, looking at the scroll attacked at it’s leg sealed with the Eye of Truth. 

Gently it pulled it off from it’s leg and tossed the Hawk back into the air, giving another whistle to dismiss it. Breaking the seal he unrolled the scroll and scanned the context of the hastily written letter. “Hero, I’m sorry, I must go.” 

“Go? Go where? Sheik, you’re bleeding!” 

“That’s hardly my current concern.” Impa sounded afraid, never in his life had he heard his mother afraid. Sheik set the letter on fire and dropped it to the ground, pulling out his harp and a Deku Nut. When Link tried to reach for him he tossed it to the ground, leapt onto the top of the nearby tree and hurriedly played the Nocturne of Shadows. 

Impa met him in the entrance to the temple, watching the stone that left behind a reminder of what became of their Tribe the first time. He stepped up beside her, looked to the words carved into the wall and sent a silent prayer to his ancestors. “Lady Impa.” 

“My son.” Oh, she was starting like this. They never had good conversations when she spoke to him with fondness. Closing his eyes Sheik gathered his own courage and turned to look at her. Impa stood proud, like she always did, but the softness full of such crushing sadness on her face didn’t leave him feeling as confident as looking at her usually did. 

Sheik swallowed and when he spoke again let his own voice carry the weight of his emotions. “Mom.” 

“You will be fine, Sheik.” No, no he really didn’t like where this was going now. Impa turned toward him and raised her hand, pulling his mask down for the second time this day and gently caressing his cheek. He let himself indulge in the unusual tenderness and leaned into her touch. “You have grown into such an incredible person, and I couldn’t be more proud of you. The Hero has halfway completed his quest, Hyrule is already beginning to reflect the land that it once was. And you, with it, have grown stronger. I believe in you as much as I believe in our Hero.”

The compliment was rare, unlike her, she always seemed to think he was doing the wrong thing. Surely, her ideals would change if she knew that he had broken all the rules she listed at him. He wasn’t going to give her the chance. “Mom.” Sheik lifted his hands up and took hers in both of his. “What’s wrong?” 

“Sheik, long ago there was a war between the Hyrulean Royal Family and the Sheikah. You remember this story, don’t you?” He did, they executed the Sheikah because they feared that they were going to rise up and destroy them all. So Sheik nods, and keeps silent. “There was a Sheikah that lived where the Kakariko Well now stands, a Sheikah that was a master of the magic we possess. He was so powerful that the Royal Family dare not execute him. Not right away. He had a talent of seeing the truth, not like you or I. Apparently it was said if you asked him anything he knew immediately if the words were real or not. Even if the words came second hand.” Sheik had a hard time understanding how that worked but he could see how it benefited the Royal Family to have someone like that.

“According to the legend the Well was built and the Hyrulean Royal Family imprisoned him down there with the traitors. Tortured him as they used him… until there was nothing left, and he died.” She tilted her head to the side and looked to the door of the Shadow Temple. “He was driven crazy and became a fierce monster in death." That was a horrible story and he didn't like where this was going. "When Bongo Bongo became dangerous to Kakariko I sealed him in the Bottom of the Well and with Ganondorf's revival he has grown more powerful. My seal on him is breaking… and he will escape and make for the Shadow Temple." 

Yeah, this was getting worse. "If he reaches the Shadow Temple I fear, Sheik, that he will become even more fierce than we know." Sheik took a step toward Impa and she shook her head. "I'm going to the Shadow Temple to strengthen the seal from the sanctum. I need you to go to the well and ensure that Bongo Bongo doesn't escape."

"Why can't you just go to the well?" His voice was pleading and he knew he sounded like a child. 

"Sheik, the time has come for Link to awaken the Sage of Shadows." 

"No!" 

"Sheik! You know the Sage of Shadows must be a Sheikah!"

"Then let it be me!" 

"I can't!" His mother grasped his face, hands on each of his cheeks and she looked at him for the first time since he was a baby perhaps like he was all she had. Like he mattered more to her than the Princess. Like he was her son. "This is your destiny and I have mine. And even if it wasn't… this is me protecting you. This is me being your mother. Let me save you for once." 

Tears of sadness, rage and desperation gathered selfishly in his eyes. They rolled down his face and vanished into the mask around his neck. A helpless sob gathered in his throat, clenching around the words that he needed to force out. "I don't want to. I can't lose you too. It's not fair." 

"You're not a child anymore, Sheik. You'll be alright. I believe in you." Her arms encircled his neck and pulled him into her chest. His face tucked against her shoulder and for once he let himself just cry. Weep for what he lost and what he was going to lose. "Please remember I always loved you." 

Impa left for the Shadow Temple and that was Sheik’s cue to leave for the well. He stayed long enough to watch her vanish inside before exiting Kakariko Graveyard. Because of Bongo Bongo’s attempts at escaping, Kakariko Village was burning down around him. The people had fled to safety, taking refuge outside the village or in the basement of the houses. Sheik walked through it like a possessed man, his eyes rubbed raw from his tears. His singular focus was the Well in the distance and as he approached he could feel the pull of the Sheikah magic luring him closer. He wasn’t sure what more he could do that Impa couldn’t but he’d try his best. 

He placed his hands on the stone and leaned down, peeking inside and clenching his teeth at the horror that peeked right back out at him. Jerking back Sheik took a few steps away and reached into his suit. Finding a talisman he pulled it out and threw it at the wall of the well, creating a barrier that cracked the moment it formed and began to shatter. 

Bongo Bongo was far stronger than Sheik, even he could admit that and the time it would take Impa to reach the sanctum of the Shadow Temple—there just wasn’t enough. He didn’t believe he could hold it back in time for Impa to strengthen the seal from inside. It just furthered his point that she should be here and he should have gone into the temple. 

He heard footsteps behind him just as the final seal of his talisman crumbled away, the sound of Link’s sword and shield clanking together echoing in his head. A hand reached from inside the well and grasped the edge of it, causing Sheik to take a step back in alarm just as the Hero reached the bottom of the steps that lead up to the well. “Get back, Link!” The Hero’s name tumbled from his lips in alarm as the hand shot upward and made a wide arch. He tried to sidestep it but Bongo Bongo caught him, yanking him up into the hand and squeezing him as if he was a large bug. 

Feeling his ribs crack a scream of pain caught in his throat. “Sheik!” As if he weighed nothing more than a single pebble Bongo Bongo chucked him across the village and Sheik slammed into the ground. Link rushed to his side and slid across the ground, falling to his knees beside Sheik and yanking his shield out. He tried to speak, he did, but the pain in his chest was too much for him to. Bongo Bongo redirected it’s attack and swept Link away, throwing him into the steps and knocking him out. Sheik wasn’t far behind him. 

He hoped his mother would forgive him. 

Somehow Sheik woke before Link, his chest feeling as if it was on fire and breath hard to pull into his lungs. The wounds he had suffered at the hands of Ganondorf earlier were split open again and when he pushed himself painfully up he found a small puddle of blood beneath him. Swallowing roughly he turned his attention to Link and crawled his way over to his side. 

Placing a hand on the Hero’s shoulder he shook him a few times until those blue eyes opened and looked up to him. “You’re okay.” A sigh fell from his lips and Sheik dropped his hand down onto his lap. “When I saw it go for you—I’m just glad you’re okay.” 

“You’re bleeding again.” Quickly the Hero sat up and grasped Sheik on the shoulder, steadying him. “Sheik, you’re really hurt.” 

“That doesn’t matter right now. Hero, you must listen to me. A terrible thing has happened, an evil shadow has been released… it’s all my fault.” Sheik shook his head and leaned forward, the arm that didn’t hold him up wrapping around his waist. He tried to add some pressure in hopes of lessening his bleeding but it only made his ribs hurt worse. “Impa, the leader of Kakariko Village, had sealed the evil shadow spirit in the bottom of the well. But the force of the evil spirit got so strong the seal of the well broke, and it escaped into the world. I’m afraid I wasn’t strong enough to hold it back.” 

“That’s not your fault.” It was, Impa had given him one task and he couldn’t even do that. Sheik just wasn’t the best with seals, he fought better with the harp and daggers. He should have practiced harder. 

He swallowed and picked his head back up to look to Link. “Impa went to the Shadow Temple to seal it again. The evil creature is already headed there however so without help… I fear she’ll be in grave danger.” Sheik grasped the front of Link’s tunic in his hands and his ribs strongly protested the sudden movement. The horrible burning pain made him gasp sharply and Sheik caught the tense grinding of the Hero’s jaw. “Impa is one of the six Sages. Please… you have to save her.” 

“I will.” Link moved and Sheik felt the entire word tilt as he was picked up. “Right after I save you.” 

“No, I’m fine. Impa—“ 

“Impa can handle herself. She’d be angry if I left you bleeding out and with crushed ribs.” The hero adjusted him in his arms and Sheik’s head tipped into the crook of the man's neck. “Sleep, Sheik, I’ll get you somewhere safe. I promise.” He didn’t want to, he was already unconscious for a period of time. He couldn’t waste anymore of it. And yet, he felt himself nodding off with each step the Hero took until the grasp of darkness finally yanked him under. 

He was just so tired.

It was quiet when he woke, the world silent. As he blinked his eyes open he found the familiar ceiling of Impa’s house above him. The warmth came from the heavy blanket settled over his body, a quilt that the woman had made herself when Sheik was young. He grasped onto the fabric of it tightly as he sat up, hair falling down around his bare back. 

His clothes were gone, everything but his undergarments and when he looked to the side he spotted them hanging near the fireplace. The table beside him was littered with bloodied rags and old water, the first aid kit he usually carried sprawled out across the floor. Sheik tilted his head down and found his chest wrapped tightly with clean and well done bandages. 

“You’re awake!” A bright blue light flew into his face and Sheik blinked at Navi bouncing around in the air. “Link, Link! Sheik’s awake finally! Oh, you were quite bad. Those wounds were getting infected. Link was so terrified he went and got a fairy. The fairy did what it could, it healed your ribs, but the cuts were made by something dark that it couldn’t heal.” 

Ganondorf’s magic, Sheik learned long ago that normal means of healing didn’t fix them. Wounds caused by his sword were harder to fix. It was whatever dark magic he used that poisoned you. 

A chair was placed beside his bed and Sheik turned to look at Link, watching the Hero sit beside him and offer out a bowl of soup. Their roles were reversed from the last time they were here, Sheik taking care of Link after getting shot. How humorous. “I did what I could for your wounds, I’ve never seen anything like it. Here, it’s just vegetable soup but it’s food. The house doesn’t have much for supplies.” 

“With Impa gone all the time and me barely frequenting here, there was never a point to keep it stocked.” He took the bowl and placed it in his lap, hands curling around the warmth of it. “I appreciate this, sorry for the trouble.” 

“Sheik, it’s no trouble. You were hurt, badly hurt. When I got wounded you didn’t leave me bleeding out on top of Epona, did you?” His hand, void of the usual armor, settled against Sheik’s bare shoulder and gently squeezed. “You gave me quite the fright though. Seeing you grabbed and thrown like that—I thought you were going to die. I didn’t see anything.” 

“The Shadows will yield only to those with the Eye of Truth. Fear not that which you cannot see.” Sheik moved the spoon useless around the wooden bowl, knowing the Hero was frowning at him. 

“Are we back to riddles already?”

“That’s a quote from my ancestors. The book is on the shelf beside the desk there.” His head nodded in the direction of the large rack of leather bound tomes covered in dust from age. “It’s a reference to the Sheikah race, our eyes. You see, the Sheikah are creatures of shadows. We can use them as much as we can see through them. What you didn’t see earlier was a creature bound in shadows, hidden from normal eyes. What I saw… was a fierce monster.” Sheik clenched the bowl in his hands, his fingers shaking along the edge of it. “A monster now headed for the Shadow Temple.” 

“You mentioned Impa went for the Shadow Temple, several hours have passed since then. I went looking for the entrance but I didn’t know where to start. Sheik, I’m sure she’s alright.” His grip tightened on the Sheikah’s shoulder, attempting to be comforting but not truly helping. Several hours? He hoped above anything that she was still alive. 

“I should have finished telling you what I was supposed to. Quick, where’s my harp?” The instrument was fetched from the desk and passed over to him, Sheik resting it in his arms carefully. “There’s an entrance to the Shadow Temple here in Kakariko, it’s in the graveyard. I have to teach you the melody that will take you to it.” His breath stuttered and he closed his eyes, trying to relax his body. “This is the melody that will draw you into infinite darkness that absorbs even time… Listen to the Nocturne of Shadows.” 

Even when he was learning to play this song Sheik hated it. The song was written by his own people but there was just something about it that seemed to suck the warmth out of him and everything around him. It was somehow less horrible when Link started playing with him, the Ocarina adding to the song what little light that it could. They concluded it quickly and Sheik sat the harp down on his lap, wrapping his arm around his waist once more. 

“You should know you won’t be able to make it through the Shadow Temple without the ability to see that which a Sheikah can.” His head nodded in the direction of the bookshelf once more. “I read once about an artifact created for the Royal Family, to let them do that. The evil creature that escaped into the Shadow Temple was the one to tell them how to make it. I read… they used his very eyes to create it.” Link shuttered and turned his head away, a grimace pulling onto his face. “It’s probably in the well but due to the monster escaping the well is inaccessible currently.” 

“Then, I’ll have to do it in the past.” Link stood and pushed the chair back, turning to find the parts to his armor. “I can take things with me from the past and bring them to the present, if I get this thing as a child I’ll have it with me now.” It was a good idea, though it would take more time. If Impa wasn’t dead by now though she would be fine for a few more hours. Hopefully that was all it took. 

“I’m not sure what to expect down there, Hero, but since a Sheikah made the cage… you might find in it the same traps that the Shadow Temple has. Monsters and things you cannot see.” At this he paused and Sheik watched him slide his gauntlets on, securing them on his arms. 

He made his way back over to the Sheikah and sat on the edge of the bed, body touching Sheik’s hip with how close he was. Reaching his right hand up he dragged the backs of his fingers across the Sheik’s cheek, drawing him just a bit closer with a soft touch. “Are you worried for me?” 

Constantly. Unrelenting. It was a horrible feeling to always have but there every single time. His face must have reflected something because he watched the Hero smile ever so slightly. He should put his mask back on. “I’m not sure anything can scare me as much as watching you get crushed and thrown like that.” 

And if that didn’t make his heart race, nothing would.

“Every time you go somewhere I cannot reach, I never know if you’ll return.” It was the first time he spoke such honest words, the first time he let himself say what he really felt. The weight that settled on his chest though seemed to lesson just the slightest bit. “I—always want to help.” 

“Then help.” It’s said so easily, like Sheik could just decide to do that. Like a prophecy didn’t hang over his head choking him every time he misstepped. Like his mothers disappointment didn’t crush his heart worse than Bongo Bongo did his body. “Sheik, answer me honestly. Just this once forget the rules and forget I’m the Hero. Say my name and tell me the truth.” Blue eyes captured his own, laying him out before the Hero like an open book. “Do you like me?” 

This man was trying to be the death of him, there was no doubt about it now. What was Sheik going to do with him? The rational part of his mind told him not to answer what his heart screamed. The logical part however argued back; just what did he have left to lose? Those rules that choked him constantly, not a single one remained intact and yet the world didn’t burn from Link seeing his face. No one died from them kissing. 

Would it change anything if he followed his heart instead of what was written in stone? He didn’t… think it would. “I want to answer you.” He admitted, his heart trying to escape his chest to show the Hero just what was inside it.

“Then please do it.” What a patient man he was, watching Sheik with that same smile and fierce look in his eyes. “I already know the answer, I just want to hear you say it.” 

Sheik swallowed, closed his eyes and opened them again to look at the harp. His fingers settled over it, curling around the golden sides that framed the instrument, framed his destiny—and he spoke. “I do like you.” His throat trapped the apology that so desperately wanted to follow those words. Not for Link, but for Impa, his ancestors, their Princess and all of Hyrule that was counting on them. He’s sorry he couldn’t stick to the rules set. 

He’s sorry that he was weak and fell so easily for those blue eyes. 

Link’s smile was sad as he watched them, not the kind that he was so used to seeing on the other’s face. His hand still on Sheik’s cheek caressed him where they held his face, down his neck, keeping Sheik’s gaze on his. “You hate that you like me, don’t you?” 

“No.” The reply came instantly, his head shaking and pushing his face further into the Hero’s palm. “No. What I hate is that by doing this I became a disappointment to Impa and my tribe. It feels—like I betrayed their confidence.” He pulled the harp closer, like it would answer his unspoken questions. If this was truly a mistake, if this was truly what he was doing wrong. If he couldn’t have this. He pulled in a breath and slowly let it out. “But I do, truly, like you and that feeling seems so selfish.” 

“I promise you that it is not selfish to let yourself feel happiness.” Link moved closer and used his hand to lift Sheik’s gaze from the instrument in his lap back to the Hero. “Or is it selfish of me, after everything I’ve given to Hyrule, to feel the same for you?” 

He hadn’t looked at it that way. In his mind Link wasn’t bound to the same rules that Sheik was. After all the man was the hero of their time, the one chosen by the Goddesses to be the light. To save them. And he had done that, he had sacrificed everything that he had including seven years of his life to become that. Surely that meant he was immune to making selfish choices. To feel what he was for Sheik. Perhaps no one had ever thought when making those rules that the Hero of Time would fall first. 

Instead of making that choice the Warrior shook his head. “I don’t know the right answer here.” 

“That’s because the answer isn’t the one you want.” Link leaned forward until their foreheads pressed together. His gaze met the others again in shock, the questions rolling around in his head slowly being driven out. “It’s not selfish.” Their lips met again and Sheik was suddenly very aware of the fact that he was still mostly naked. It was far too easy for the Hero’s hands to fall and wander down along his body, exploring the skin exposed to him that wasn’t covered by bandages. 

Apparently he wasn’t deterred from exploring at all by the bandages. His rough hands worn from using weapons traced the bones of his shoulders, the length of his arms and what of his chest he could reach. The tattoo over his heart of the Sheikah crest peeked out beneath one of the bandages, the length of it traced by the Hero’s ever wandering hands. Eventually they reached his hips, settling along the expanse of his waist as his lips moved to place a kiss beneath Sheik’s right ear. 

“Sheik, do you want me to stop?” 

No, he honestly never did. The day the Hero stopped chasing him was the day Sheik lost the fight to keep facing Ganondorf. That coldness in the Ice Cavern when he turned away from him was too much. So he swallowed and closed his eyes, breath increasing as Link trailed his lips down to Sheik’s neck. “No.” 

“Then we should move your harp and I need to undress.” Reluctantly his fingers released the instrument to the Hero’s hands. He watched him take it back to the desk, setting it gently over Sheik’s open books. As the other began to remove his clothes Sheik settled himself back against the pillows on the bed and watched him. 

“Can I ask a question?” It was the first time he’s done that, turned the Hero’s pondering words back on him. The man in question of course instantly nodded his head, encouraging Sheik to open up more to him. He was down to just his own undergarments now, clothes discarded with Sheik’s own that still hung up drying. He made his way back to the bed, sitting on the side once more as close to Sheik as he could get. “What happened in the Sacred Realm? I’ve already figured out that you didn’t actually sleep.” 

“I suppose it was kind of like sleeping.” Sheik moved over a bit and allowed Link to get more comfortable on the bed. “I was put in a place that was very… white. Black and white, shades of grey. I could see the Castle but I could never get close to it. It was very void of life.” He frowned as he tried to imagine it, struggling greatly. “It was in that place that I learned how to use the sword. I think it was soldiers who died that trained me, spirits chosen by the Goddesses. I was aware I was aging, that time was moving but that I couldn’t wake up. But I didn’t question why. I think that space had a very particular atmosphere that made me feel calm.” 

“I see. So it wasn’t quite like what we thought. We honestly expected you to wake up as a child trapped in an adults body.” Sheik looked over to Link and searched his face. “I expected to pick up a crying child and have to carry him to the temples. You definitely exceeded my expectations.” 

“Your expectations of me don’t seem to have been set very high.” He laughed, fondly and with that same tone that Sheik now realized was reserved just for him. A lightness that carried an emotion he refused to name, not right now. “Sheik?” The Hero turned to face him fully, his arms wrapping around his shoulders and pulling the Sheikah toward him. “I’m going to kiss you again, alright?” 

This man did not play fair. How could he look at him and say those things so easily? “Alright.”

[ △ ]

He woke to the sun in his eyes and Link getting dressed. Sheik squinted his gaze at the Hero’s back, fresh red marks trailing down it left by his own hands. The Master Sword was strapped to his back, leather band being yanked tightly over the others chest. As he tightened his gauntlets in place Link turned and looked to Sheik, realizing then that he was wide awake. Making his way over the other knelt beside the bed and reached his hand out, fingers brushing against Sheik’s cheek. “Good morning. Sheik, I want to ask you something and I really hope you’ll tell me the answer.” He blinked at Link and waited, patiently. After last night he’s not sure he’d deny the Hero anything. “Seven years ago, when I was twelve, where were you?” 

Oh. There was a temptation to ask why, knowing what Link was just about to go do, but he bit his tongue. If he was proven right in his thoughts, he’s not sure he’d be able to bring himself to answer Link’s question. “Impa is going to kill me, you know.” Despite his reply Link continues to wait, to see if Sheik will tell him. “Here. This house. If you can’t find me here, Link, play the Nocturne of Shadows and let it take you to the Shadow Temple entrance. I’ll be there.” 

A frown settles along his face, gaze searching Sheik’s own. “Why?” 

“If—when you find me, ask me.” 

Seven years ago Sheik was thirteen. Freshly turned thirteen. As a coming of age tradition for the Sheikah one was supposed to traverse the Shadow Temple and reach the sanctum inside. There, they carved their names on the walls along with their ancestors and prayed. Impa told Sheik she had made the journey many times before, that her name was written large and proudly on the walls. 

Of course she expected the same of her son, and on his thirteenth birthday a naive and young Sheik had indeed entered that very temple with his head held high, believing he’d be able to overcome whatever it threw at him. The thing about the Shadow Temple however… was that it used your darkest fears against you. It was a place where the term ‘darkness’ was just a word, it in no way described what existed within that place. 

He walked in there determinedly, brightly, and that place swallowed him up and spit him right back out. What made it worse was the fact that his mother didn’t seem surprised. She told Sheik to sit on the podium in the entrance and pray. Which was exactly what he was doing, eyes squeezed tightly shut and hands clenched in his lap. He’d stopped praying hours ago, instead picturing every single thing he did wrong. He let his fear get to him, he let himself be led astray, he failed to see the truth. That none of it was real. 

His eyes opened and fell to the harp in his lap, the golden glow of the instrument seeming to mock him. A guide, a shadow to the Hero, a ‘brave soul’ who will be a truth… and a lie. 

Brave, what did he know of bravery? He ran from that place with his tail between his legs because a monster tilted it’s head sideways at him! He hated this damn instrument, he didn’t want to be the Hero’s guide! 

Blinded by his own rage Sheik grasped the edge of the harp and stood to his feet, twisting and flinging the instrument as far away from him as he could. The moment he let go of it he regretted his harsh actions. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting to hear it hit the ground and slide across it. Instead, what came was the sound of someone exclaiming in shock. 

“Ah!” There was a fumble, a thump and when Sheik looked over a small boy cloaked in green was sprawled across the floor, his harp clenched tightly to their chest like it was a precious object. They sat up, still holding onto it and looked to Sheik with wide eyes that reminded him of the morning sky. They were such a bright blue. 

“I’m sorry!” He rushed down off of the platform and quickly made his way over, taking the instrument from the boy and setting it aside. His hands searched them for any sign of wounds but quickly found none. “I wasn’t looking where I was—um—“ 

“Chucking precious instruments across rooms?” 

He flushed brightly and quickly moved to tug his cowl higher along his face. “Yeah… that… um, thank you for catching it by the way. My mom would skin me alive.” 

“Your mom?” 

“Mm! Impa, the Queensguard? She works at the Castle… which judging by your clothes you probably don’t know. You’re a Kokiri, right? You’re quite far from the forest, you know.” Sheik smiled brightly beneath his mask and stood, collecting the harp from the boy. He tucked it against his chest and turned back to them. “My mom Impa is the leader of Kakariko Village and the protector of Princess Zelda. The harp is a family heirloom.” Which he had carelessly chucked across the room, thank the Three this boy caught it. “Oh! I’m Sheik, a Sheikah Warrior in training.” 

He held his hand out and the boy took it, allowing Sheik to help him up. They brushed their tunic off, adjusted their hat and looked him in the eyes with more knowledge than a child should possess. “I’m Link, the Hero of Time. Hello, Sheik.” 

The harp slipped from his arms and the Hero quickly moved to catch it, pulling it into their own arms. “You should really be more careful with this.” 

He wasn’t dreaming, right? He didn’t fall asleep meditating on the platform? No, there was no way. Sheik hated this place so much he couldn’t have fallen asleep. It was practically impossible. Yes, he was tired, Impa had him carry buckets of water up the steps of Kakariko a hundred times as punishment for failing the Shadow Temple. But he wouldn’t sleep here. Hallucinating from exhaustion? No. The boy caught the harp, and the harp was fine. Not a scratch. He was currently holding it, hallucinations couldn't do that. 

“Sheik?” That was worry on his face, worry for him. A stranger shouldn’t worry for someone they just met. Especially when he said his name so… intimately. Like he was familiar with it. His mother didn’t even say his name like that. “Here,” he passed the harp back and Sheik’s numb fingers took it. “You told me when I found you in the Shadow Temple to ask why you’re here. That it would help.” 

“I—I did?” He swallowed, wrapping his arms tightly around the harp as if it would ground him. “You know about the Shadow Temple. Then… you really are… by the Goddesses.” Turning he walked back toward the platform, putting some distance between himself and the Hero of Time. They followed, of course, but it gave him time to think. 

“I do know. Playing the Nocturne of Shadows is how I got up here to find you.” 

“I see… how many songs do you know?” 

When he turned to look back at the Hero he found him frowning thoughtfully. “I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you that…” 

Which made sense of course and he more than already proved that he was the Hero of Time by just knowing where he was standing. A boy from the forest, how strange. Sheik expected the Hero of Time to be the son of a soldier from the Castle. Someone who knew how to use a sword. Not that he should judge, the way he gazed at Sheik spoke volumes of someone who had seen more than their fair share of darkness. 

Turning back around the Sheikah looked to the Temple doors, hearing the Hero step up onto the platform and join him. “The Shadow Temple is a right of passage for the Sheikah. When we turn thirteen we enter the place to face our greatest fears. By overcoming the shadows in there we gain the right to be Sheikah Warriors. To use the shadows for which we’re named.” Tilting his head to the side he looked over at Link. “We reach the sanctum and pray to our ancestors, adding our names to the wall of Sheikah Warriors before us.” A sigh fell from his lips and Sheik kicked a stone on the platform. “I failed.” 

The Hero made a contemplative sound and Sheik scowled. “I got scared and ran away, like a coward. Mom ordered me to sit here and pray, think about what I did wrong. Some guide to the Hero I’ll turn out to be.” And, as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized who exactly he said them to. 

He caught a smile on the Hero’s face, soft and understanding, before looking away to the opposite wall. “Is that why you threw your harp at me?” 

“Hey! I wasn’t aiming for you! You got in the way!” 

“If I hadn't it would have hit the wall and broke. Huh, I wonder if that’s how it got that scratch on it…” He seemed to be speaking to himself at the end so Sheik chose to ignore the words. The Hero shook his head and turned to face Sheik, his childish face still bright with that smile. “Sheik, if it wasn’t for you in the future, I would be lost. You’re braver than you know. You are my guide and I wouldn’t take anyone else over you, including your mother.” Coming from anyone else he probably wouldn’t have believed them. But this was the Hero of Time and honestly, it did mean quite a bit to him. “And now, I’m here because I need your help.” 

“My help?” 

They stood before the well, Sheik’s harp and a book held in his arms. He passed the harp to the Hero who still held it like it was the greatest treasure in the world and flipped the book from his mothers house open. “You realize if Impa catches us she’ll probably kill the both of us, right? I don’t think we’re supposed to be meeting like this. Actually, if I read the prophecy—“ 

“Sheik, it's a well, with an evil being powered by Ganondorf and full of monsters I cannot see. Special situations call for special circumstances. Besides, you agreed to help me.” 

“Seven years from now, a promise I can’t know about.” He found the passage he needed and leaned closer to the book. The Hero pressed into his side, trying to read over his shoulder and quickly finding it was written in Sheikah. With a huff he leaned away and Sheik laughed quietly. “Okay, so if I’m understanding this right Bongo Bongo was a Sheikah who the Royal Family imprisoned. Impa wrote here that she sealed him away and they turned their dungeon into their home with their magic.” Sheik leaned away and looked down to the well. “I wonder how smart it was to seal an evil creature in the town's only drinking supply.” 

Link didn’t comment but he did hum in acknowledgement. “So we need to get inside the well. Any idea on how we empty it?” 

“The well is connected to Zora’s River. The windmill up there turns the water ducts inside the well to filter out the water in it. If you can reverse its trajectory it’ll instead push the water in the well back out into the river.” 

“I just gotta reverse the windmill? Alright, I can do that. I see now why the guy inside there hates me.” Sheik blinked in confusion and Link waved him off. “Wait here.” 

So he did, leaning against the well and watching the windmill. It was quiet for a good while until suddenly clouds started to gather above Kakariko and the windmill began spinning completely out of control. His gaze fell to the well and Sheik watched as the water was drained from it. Link came running down the steps, jumping over them and landing beside Sheik. Picking up his harp and the book he gave the Hero a nod before swinging his legs over the side of the well and dropping down. 

Landing in a crouch he slowly stood up and looked to the hole at the bottom. It was barely wide enough for the both of them to climb through but at the very least it seemed doable. Taking a breath he tucked his book away, held his harp tightly and crawled onto the ground. 

On the other side of the hole was a skeleton, years dead and a fake floor. Sheik could see the truth in it but Link blindly walked forward without a care. He quickly caught the Hero’s elbow and tugged him back. “The spirits are whispering.” 

Link tensed and slowly turned, his gaze narrowing in on Sheik. “What do you mean?” 

“I can… hear them calling to me. Urging me forward. They know you’re the Hero.” His gaze shifted over to the skeleton, the voices whispering louder as he looked at the corpse. Link reversed their hold and took Sheik’s hand in his, tugging him toward him. 

“Sheik, focus, don’t listen to them.” 

“They’re telling you to find the Lens of Truth.” 

“Hey, look at me.” Bodily turned he ripped his attention away from the skeleton and found Link’s gaze. “Don’t listen. We know what we need to do, we don’t need to hear their tricks. Tell me what you see around us.” 

Breathing in he slowly let it out and allowed his gaze to roam around the room. “The floors fake, if we walk forward we’ll drop down.” So they did, they headed forward and dropped onto the next level of the cavern. This place was strange, like a multi-leveled house with traps. From what he read Bongo Bongo used to live in this place so it was quite possible his own home reflected something like this, merged with the well and the prison. 

He tried not to think about that last part. Keeping his gaze on the Hero’s back Sheik followed behind him. They stopped to collect a key from the water spout and a chest that only held rupees. It seemed to move around here they’d end up raising and lowering the water levels a bit. Otherwise they needed to find the hidden doors and walls that would drop them down lower. 

As they walked through another wall that Sheik pointed out Link looked over to him. “Do you know anything about where we need to go?” 

“I know you said not to listen but it’s rather hard. From what I’ve picked up the spirits say we need to reach the lowest level.” Link nodded and thankfully didn’t chastise him for still listening to them. At least he wasn’t focusing on their voices, it was when he did that things got rather—chaotic. A lot of screaming. “They’re very adamant about telling me what happened here.” His eyes found a dried old bloodstain on the wall and his body froze. “It… wasn’t good.” 

Link stopped beside him and reached his hand out, taking hold of Sheik’s wrist. “You told me that the Lens of Truth was made from Bongo Bongo’s eyes, that gave me a good idea.” 

“I see. Do you know anything about the Shadow Temple?” Pulled into moving again Sheik followed the Hero, keeping pace with him as they made for another door. 

“Again, information I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you, but no. I haven’t gotten that far.” 

“The Shadow Temple is a mass grave for my people.” Link suddenly stopped moving and Sheik walked right into his back, nearly sending the both of them onto the floor. Slowly he turned and looked up to Sheik wide eyed, clearly alarmed at this sudden revelation. “There seems to be more running through your head than I know so I’ll refrain from asking what alarmed you so much. There’s a Like Like behind you, by the way.” 

He let the Hero handle the annoying blob and continued forward toward the next passage. “A mass grave?” The boy caught up quickly, panting and sheathing his sword. He tossed the rupees he collected from the creature into a pouch and walked through the next door with Sheik. 

“There was a war between the Hylians and the Sheikah. We call it the Great Betrayal. At the end of the bloodbath the Sheikah that remained swore their loyalty to the Royal Family and imprisoned those that refused. The Bottom of the Well was created as a prison for the Sheikah that fought back, like Bongo Bongo—and the Shadow Temple was repurposed into a grave for those we lost.” He glanced over at Link trying to assess his reaction. It looked like one of horror. “It’s why we make the voyage through it, to remember that which we lost and honor our ancestors.” Looking away his fingers curled around the edge of his harp. “I hate that I failed something so important.” 

They walked into a room that instantly sealed behind them. Sheik tightened his grip on the harp, fingers curling into the strings in preparations for a fight. There was a shadow moving beneath the ground that Sheik could see and when he took a step backwards something grasped his ankle and yanked him forward. The harp tumbled from his grip onto the ground as he was dragged across the room. 

“Sheik!” The Hero rushed toward him, sword at the ready and Navi echoing his cry. 

The hand suddenly stopped but the moment to breath was instantly lost when a monster shot free from the ground, green blood like liquid dripping from every hole in its body. Dull dead eyes rolled down to look at him, teeth gnawing together in preparation for a meal. It leaned forward and drove those teeth right into his shoulder, pulling a scream from the Sheikah it had trapped. He twisted his body, ripping his shoulder from its mouth and grabbed a dirk at his thigh. Pushing his body upward he drove the blade into its head and quickly climbed out from beneath the hand when it let loose. 

Rolling to the side he picked his harp up and twisted into a crouch, playing a series of notes that formed the Prelude of Light. Using the light like a weapon he launched the spell forward and let it collide with the Dead Hand’s body. Link followed up with his spell by driving his sword forward and effectively removing the Dead Hand’s head from its. It thumped to the ground, rolled to Sheik’s feet and gazed up at him.

A moment later it burst into flames and vanished beneath the ground the same as it had come. The death of the creature triggered a chest only visible before to Sheik’s eyes to appear completely. Link ignored it and made his way to Sheik’s side, pulling at his suit to try and get a look at where the monster had attempted to rip him apart. 

“I’m sorry, I was distracted by your story and you got grabbed because of it.” Sheik shook his head and flinched when Link shoved a strip of cloth against his wound. “I should have been paying more attention, we’re still in a dangerous place even if you’re here with me.” 

“I shouldn’t have let myself get grabbed.” Which was true enough, he was better than that. “I’ll be alright, I’ll clean it when we get out of here. Let’s check the chest.” 

The chest held a compass, which Sheik was overly happy about and Link scowled. The map they had gotten previously was far more useful with a compass which pointed him in the direction that was forward rather than backwards or circles. It only took Sheik a few minutes to figure out where they were, what level, and where they needed to go. 

“We’re still only on the first floor. The Lens of Truth is in the last level. We need to find a way downward.” Rolling the map up he tucked it away and took Link’s hand, pulling him toward the door and back out into the main room. 

The way down was, disgustingly, hidden beneath bloodied bags in a corner near the fountain. Sheik had to push them out of the way to drop in the hole in the floor to the second level. Link was right behind him much to his relief. The room they appeared in seemed to be a giant cell, metal gates lining the place with chains on the walls. Several of the cells were drenched in old dried blood and those that weren’t had clearly attempted to wash it away. 

Sheik squeezed his eyes shut and raised his hand up, covering his left ear as he looked away. The hand that Link held was tugged on in an attempt to get his attention. Forcing his eyes back open he looked over at the Hero. “Are you alright?” 

“The spirits are unhappy, the deeper we go the louder they get. I wonder if Bongo Bongo has something to do with that.” He could understand their anger, this place was a nightmare, something you read about but never expect to see the reality of. Not that Hyrule will ever own this part of their history, they always bury what they don’t want people to remember. “Let’s go before it gets too late.” 

Link nodded determined and tugged Sheik along with him. Making their way through into the cells Sheik stops and begins to search around them, seeing what Link couldn’t. “I bet the passage is hidden in one of these cells. Each way we’ve found so far has been telling a story. The water level hid the key, The Dead Hand is a sightless creature that uses severed arms as weapons, the bloody body bags hid the way down here—it symbolizes what Bongo Bongo and the Sheikah went through.” 

Sheik picked a random cell and walked into it, looking up at the chains that dangled from the ceiling. “They say Bongo Bongo’s eyes were used to make the Lens of Truth, which you know. It’s also said they tortured him for information, questions the Royal Family wanted truth to. They cut his arms off last and left him to bleed out after taking his eyes.” 

“And the rest?” Link inquired softly, opening a chest he spotted in the room that distracted Sheik. 

“The Sheikah that refused to swear fidelity to the Royal Family were kept down here and died. Body bags. The water level is Impa sealing the well.” Link tucked what he got from the chest away, nuts from what Sheik saw, and motioned him forward again. “This place is clearly where Bongo Bongo and the others were kept.” 

“Mm. If I never have to return here again I have to admit I’ll be happy.” 

“You and I both.” Sheik sighed and started for another cell. In this one they managed to find the trap door down and quickly made their way to the last level of the Well. 

What they dropped down into was a dark room lined with coffins. It was by no means a place Sheik thought he’d find himself in. His entire body seemed to freeze up, looking at the Redeads that lingered around, mixed with Gibdos. He didn’t even dare to breathe, lest he draw their attention. However, the shadow he sensed lingering above them was enough for him to move closer to Link. 

“This place has a Wallmaster. We need to be quick. The chest is hidden to your eyes, it’s at the end of the room.” Reaching out Sheik pointed to a spot tucked away at the back of the room. Link frowned, clearly being unable to see it and looked back to Sheik. 

“You get it, I’ll take care of the monsters.” 

“I—don’t think that’s how this works, you’re the Hero. You’re supposed to—“ 

“Sheik, I can’t see the chest! We’re essentially working on a clock here with a Wallmaster stalking us. Your rules really don’t matter right now.” There was logic to that, but Sheik was raised with a prophecy that said something completely different than that. He heard the Wallmaster above him and the both of them raised their gazes toward the ceiling. 

“Open the chest.” 

“On it.” 

Breaking apart Sheik broke into a run across the floor, dodging Redeads that screamed at him and were quickly paralyzed with Link playing the Ocarina. He jumped when the Wallmaster dropped down and rolled across the floor, skidding around a Gibdos. He hit a coffin and climbed to his feet, launching himself over it and running for the chest again. Sliding to a stop beside it he crouched down and used a Dirk from his thigh to crack the old rusted lock. Throwing the lid back Sheik reached inside and grasped the Lens of Truth, pulling it out as he stood up. 

“Sheik! I can’t see the Wallmaster, it's not visible to my eyes!” Of course, he hadn’t even noticed that when it went for him. 

Grasping the handle of the Lens he looked across the space of the tomb to where Link stood between a Redead and a Gibdos. “Link, here!” With the same strength he threw his harp, Sheik launched the Lens of Truth across the room, years of practicing with throwing the Dirks’ coming into play. It soared through the air and the Hero jumped, catching the handle of the Lens and bringing it up to his left eye. Looking through it he easily spotted the Wallmaster and jumped into the air, bringing the sword down right onto the back of the rotten, leathery fleshy hand. It moved like a dying spider, fingers wiggling about before bursting into flames and burning away. 

Rushing over to Link’s side, Sheik caught him by his arm and adjusted his harp. “Pick a place! The Redeads are still coming!” Crawling out of the coffin’s actually and that was something that was going to haunt his nightmares forever. 

“The Temple of Time, I got what I needed.” Sheik nodded and with a practiced motion played the Prelude of Light, taking the both of them from that horrible darkened place to somewhere much brighter and cleaner. 

They landed on the teleported pad and Sheik walked Link through the building toward the Master Swords resting place. He stopped at the base, not daring to get any closer and knowing that he shouldn’t. Link looked down over to him, a smile on his face as he pulled the Master Sword from its sheath. “Thank you, for coming with me. For keeping a promise you don’t remember.” 

“Um… you’re welcome. And, thank you, for catching my harp.” He rubbed the instrument nervously and looked away. “I didn’t mean it, I just got frustrated.” 

“I know, just like I know you’ll manage to overcome your fears. Maybe not now, but eventually. I don’t know what the Shadow Temple holds, but I know you’re not a coward.” He swung the Master Sword around, the blade nearly as long as his entire body. He looked awkward holding it. 

"Link, wait!" Fears and rules forgotten in the face of the boy Sheik rushed the steps to the Hero's side. He met the others' curious and confused gaze, his own face alighting with the embarrassment he felt. Shifting Sheik coughed an awkward sound and looked away. "I want to give you something." He sat the harp down beside his feet and reached up to his own neck, small bandages fingers slipping beneath the collar of his suit. Sheik unclasped the necklace he wore and pulled it out, the small golden Triforce dangling on the thin chain. 

Taking a single step forward he brought it around the Hero's own neck and clasped it shut, watching it fall between his chest. "My mother gave that to me when she told me of my destiny." 

Link's eyes widened and he reached his right hand up, fingertips finding the golden necklace. "Should I really take something so important?" 

"That necklace represents a part of what we're fighting to protect. It represents what connects us." A smile pulls on his face and Sheik tucks his hands behind his back. "You are what I need to protect and guide safely." Taking a few steps back Sheik crouched and grabbed his harp from the floor before leaping off of the platform. "So carry that, carry what we are both fighting for and I promise to become strong enough to protect you and guide you in that." Sheik looked to the sword, awkwardly held in Link's left hand, the necklace and then the boy himself. He started to back away. "Link, we'll meet again." 

The Hero nodded and swung the sword up, grasping it with both hands. “Sheik?” He met Link’s gaze, blinking at the blinding smile the other flashed him. “You’re really cute as a kid.” The sword was thrust down into the pedestal.

Sheik's face and ears burned red. 

[ △ ]

Waiting for the Hero in the Temple of Time was quite boring. Sheik reported to Ganondorf while he was gone and the Princess, the second of which was much worse than the first. She cried, a lot, when he told her what happened to Impa. Cruelly she had even asked why it wasn’t him and that wasn’t something he could answer her. Sheik knew she didn’t mean it, driven by grief to say the words, but that didn’t make them any easier to swallow. 

His chest still felt wet from where she had sobbed on him and smacked him uselessly with her fists. Impa had been important to her, he knew that, but the depth of their relationship seemed to be something he failed to grasp. Letting out a sigh he rolled his head to the side, cheek pressing against the cool tiles of the Swords pedestal. Sheik was aware that Link was changing history, memories he didn’t have before were now present in his mind, which was quite odd to be aware of. He was first and foremost surprised that Link even managed to find him. 

“Are you sleeping on the job?” 

Snapping his head up Sheik blinked at Link, the Hero gazing down at him as he swung his sword up and behind his back. “You’re home.” He paused, squinted and then rethought his words. “Or, well, here. In the future. This is perhaps a bit more confusing that it needs to be. I have a hard time comprehending that the past is technically your current time.” 

“See, I just don’t think about it and that works well enough for me.” A startled laugh falls from Sheik’s lips and Link kneels down beside him. Taking Sheik’s face in his hands he pulled the mask down to press a kiss to his lips before pulling back. “And I see that you somehow developed a black eye while I was gone.” 

“Hm, well the world doesn’t stop being evil just because you run off to play with baby Sheik.” Pulling away he climbed up to his feet and stretched. It was true though, his right eye was developing a dark bruise. It’ll heal, but like most times he pisses Ganondorf off, there is always a consequence. This was one of the lesser ones. His eyes always seem to be a target for the man, either in mockery or as a target. Those ones, he dodges. The resulting pain he gets for dodging is much better than being blinded, in his opinion. He’d take broken bones over being blind. 

A sigh falls from Link’s lips and his gaze follows Sheik’s movements as he makes his way out of the sanctum. “Sheik, what exactly do you do when you’re not with me?” 

“Do you really want to know?” He stops by the stones and turns to slowly look over at the Hero. He’s hesitating, perhaps torn between wanting to know but afraid of what his reaction would be. Finally, determined, he nods once. Sheik looked away and continued around to the entrance of the Temple of Time. He waits by the transporter for Link and when the Hero catches up turns to face him. “I run tasks for Princess Zelda, deliver her information and keep her updated on your progress.” 

Link nods, like that makes sense and Sheik tilts his head a bit. “And when I don’t do that I spy on Ganondorf.” That seemed to hit him like a brick, his mouth falling open and eyes widening. 

“What?” 

“He thinks I work for him.” They were lucky the Temple of Time was immune to his power, that they could be in here without being heard or seen by the Evil King. If he caught on to what Sheik was doing and Sheik didn’t know—the next time he went to see him he’d be murdered. 

“So those wounds—“ Link pressed his lips together and Sheik nodded his head in confirmation. “No wonder they wouldn’t heal right. No wonder you always look injured. Sheik, that’s dangerous. If you get caught he will kill you.” 

“I know.” A smile forms on his lips beneath the mask and Sheik looks away from the Hero. “But the Princess ordered me to, Impa expected me to, and the prophecy said I’m to do it. According to fate, this is my destiny.” The Hero looked away from him, hands clenched into fists at his side. “It’ll be alright, Hero. We’re almost done. I don’t have to do it for much longer.” 

“Link.” The correction comes swiftly, the Hero looking to his face with that same determined expression he had become accustomed to. “You know my name and we’re partners now, aren’t we? You should use it, please, Sheik.” 

He breaths out and gives a nod of his head, knowing this wasn’t an argument he should have nor would win. Link was right in the end, after all. “Okay, Link. Now that you have the Lens of Truth we should continue with the journey. The Shadow Temple, and by extension Impa, is waiting. 

Link played the Nocturne of Shadows this time, taking the both of them to the Temple entrance. “Why didn’t you tell me Impa was your mother?” Din’s Fire was in the palm of his hand, ready to light the torches that would open the door. “It explains why you seemed to… break after Bongo Bongo escaped.” 

His gaze lingered on the door behind the torches, hands fisted at his side. Despite Link’s belief in him he never did succeed in the Shadow Temple and after Ganondorf attacked the Castle, he never got a chance to try again. Not that he wanted to, he hated that place and he hated it even more now after taking Impa from him. “It was common knowledge amongst the Knights and the Castle residents. I followed Impa around all the time. It’s just—something people knew. I didn’t think to mention it.” 

“You never call her mom. I mean you did, when we were in the well, but now…”

Sheik shook his head and Link stopped talking. “She didn’t want me to. She said I was too old to call her it anymore. That as the Tribe leader she should be called by her name or title and as future leader of the Sheikah Tribe I needed to sound more like an adult. Running around yelling ‘Mom’ apparently wasn’t very dignified.” 

“I’ll admit I don’t understand your relationship and I never grew up with parents so I can’t judge, but from an outside perspective that all sounds rather… cruel.” He can understand that, and truthfully at the time hearing her say those things did hurt. But her last words to him still echoed in his head. 

“The Sheikah have a complicated relationship in general. Our training regiment isn’t exactly kind. But no soldier is created through kindness.” Link didn’t seem to have a response to that and Sheik watched as he slammed the fire into the ground and lit the circle of torches. 

He turned and looked back to Sheik, tucking the fire away in his bag once more. “Are you coming with me?” 

A pause and Sheik looked to the ground, the torches, the platform where he spent hours meditating before the door. “You have the Lens of Truth, you no longer need my eyes.” 

“I always need you.” The admission startled him and his gaze snapped back to the Hero. He extended his hand out, palm upward and met his red eyes. “So, Sheik, are you coming with me to face the darkness?” 

The hesitation this time didn’t come from the rules, didn’t come from the sound of Impa’s voice reminding him to keep his distance. This time it came from the fear that crawled through his veins at the reminder of what waited for him in the Shadow Temple. The horrors that place played on your mind. The shadows it cast on the wall and the nightmares it made you see. The fears it played with that it stole from the darkest places in your heart. 

A darkness the Hero of Time—no Link—shouldn’t be forced to face on his own. 

Sheik looked to the necklace the other wore and then took his outstretched hand. He made a promise. “I’m coming with you.” 

The Shadow Temple was as cold as he remembered, a chilly feeling that crept into his very bones and threatened to freeze his heart. Sheik kept close to Link, his fingers tangled in the back of the man's tunic gripping not just the fabric but his belts too. When they approached the first trap, a hole in the floor that would drop you to a quick piercing death, Sheik tugged Link to a stop. "You should always have the Lens of Truth out in here, honestly, but since I'm with you, don't bother. The magic of the Sheikah eye will drain you of your spiritual energy before you even make it to the first door."

"Sounds like it's really helpful then." A smile twitched on the Sheikah's lips and Link let out a quiet sigh. "So I assumed you stopped me because of a trap?" 

"Right you are. There's a spikefall trap in front of us, take two steps forward and jump." Doing such a thing himself Sheik leapt over the hole and landed on the other side. Link joined him on the other side and Sheik walked forward, through the door and into the beginning of the Shadow Temple. 

“What do I need to know about this place, Sheik?” 

A heavy sigh falls from his lips and Sheik looks up toward the roof of the Shadow Temple. “There was a time, before it became what it is now, where it was used as a torture chamber.” He can see Link pause, looking over toward him as his mouth opens in the beginning of a question. “Yes, it is a grave for my people now, because we refused to continue what we were doing for the Royal Family. You see, before the beginning of the Great Betrayal, the Sheikah Warriors would capture Hyrule’s enemies and torture them in here. Because of that this place is laid out much the same as the Bottom of the Well.” Turning around he looked to Link and motioned toward the statues that stood in the room. “Like this, do you know what it is?” 

Link looked up to the pillars and the dial in between them, his head tilting slightly before giving a nod. “I have to spin that thing to a particular statue.” 

“Correct. The answer to the puzzle is the false statue.” The Hero frowned, clearly intending to ask how he could tell which one was fake but Sheik beat him to it. “The one beside me isn’t real. The statue on top of the pillar is created by Shadow Magic. By spinning the dial to it you’ll cause a key to drop we can use to open the door behind us.” 

“I see. How far did you get in here, anyway?” 

“...the second floor. The Temple showed me something I couldn’t handle.” Sheik turned and looked to the door to the side, eyes falling shut as Link got to work. Thankfully, Link didn’t ask what it showed him, and even if he had Sheik wasn’t sure that he could bring himself to answer him. Especially if, when they reached the Sanctum, that nightmare proved real. 

They key dropped and they headed into the door off to the side, entering a row of corridors and a nearly pitch black hall. Sheik reached his right hand out and grasped the bottom of the Hero’s tunic in his grip, pulling him down the way that he could see. As they walked Link’s hand found Sheik’s and gently untangled his fingers from the green fabric to instead hold Sheik’s hand in his own. 

“Where are we going?” He asked in the darkness, moving closer to Sheik. The Shadows were moving, Sheik could see them crawling along the wall, he wondered if Link could. 

“You need a particular item from down in here to continue through the Shadow Temple. They soldiers used to use them when they came here to investigate.” Link made a curious sound and Sheik stopped walking, watching something crawl across the ground, it’s bleeding red eyes staring up at him as it moved much like a spider. 

“Sheik?” 

“So you can’t see them… I see.” 

“See what, exactly?” 

“That which lives in the shadows.” Link squeezed his hand and Sheik stepped over the Shadow on the ground to continue moving. The Hero followed his movements despite not being able to see what Sheik could. He stopped a second time and reached his hand out, stepping through the false wall and pulling Link with him. They reached another door and Sheik pushed it open, moving inside and pulling the Hero with him. 

The room they found was small and as Sheik looked around he saw the dried blood and shackles hanging from the ceiling. He blinked and the blood seemed to drip down the wall, piling on the floor. “When we turned this place into a graveyard we used magic to seal off parts of the Temple. Rooms like this were hidden behind false walls to keep people out. But, these rooms have things in them, supplies you might need like arrows or money.” 

Link had found the chest and the map in it, looking it over as he stood back up. “There’s a Skulltula in here, can you see it? I can only hear it.” 

“Mm, it’s on the ceiling.” Reaching down he grabbed a Dirk from his thigh and turned around, throwing it upward and into the back of the golden bug. It froze, caught fire and as his Dirk fell back down Link used the hook shot to get the Token. “You’re trying to save Kogak?” Link blinked at him and he inclined his head. “The Skulltula house near Impa’s home. A man lives there with his five sons, cursed for his greed.” 

“Yeah, he promised me riches if I saved him.” Link nods and tucks the Token away inside the bag on his hip. “I’ve nearly gotten all of them. He said he needed a hundred of them.” 

“Why am I not surprised he intends to fight a curse for being greedy, by being more greedy?” Sheik shook his head and Link made a contemplative sound, heading toward the door to return to where they were. “He got rich by selling priceless artifacts you know. Some of which were even Sheikah ones. No one can prove it, he was quite good, but we know he did it.” 

“You know, he has a book with the Sheikah Crest on it in his house?” Sheik swore in his native tongue and the Hero looked over at him amused. “Mhm, I should take it back some time for you, I’m sure it’s not doing them any good and they owe me.” 

“I would appreciate it.” 

“If anything it’s probably yours.” It wouldn’t surprise Sheik, that man's kids in particular had fairly sticky fingers. Sheik remembered them from when he was young, what a brat. The youngest kid who was about Sheik’s age in particular was a sore spot for the Sheikah, considering his favorite thing to call Sheik was ‘blood eye’. It’s not a particular name that endears you to the Sheikah. 

They reached the corridor again and Sheik’s gaze instantly fell to the floor, watching the Shadows crawl away quickly as they re-emerge from the room. Link followed his gaze and frowned when the floor to him was undoubtedly either blank or too dark to see anything. They really should have a lantern but Sheik could see fine so at the very least, Link had that on his side. 

“Can I ask,” Link started and Sheik moved down the path once more, keeping a small pace ahead of Link. “In the Well, you could hear voices you said. Is it the same in here?” 

He remembered that, which was strange because Sheik can also remember his harp hitting the wall and Impa’s later lecture that followed. Link rewrote history for Sheik and yet Sheik held both sets of memories in his mind. Would he eventually forget the part of his past that technically no longer happened? The marks on the harp were gone, as if it never happened, because technically it no longer did. It made sense for him to forget and yet the idea of that happening—it unsettled him. 

“Sheik?” 

“Huh? Sorry, I got lost in thought.” Sheik stopped walking and Link stepped around him until he was facing the Sheikah’s front. Letting his eyes fall shut, Sheik allowed his mind to drift to the area around them, seeping into the shadows and the spirits that lingered within the Temple. He turned his head a bit to the side, focused his hearing and pulling the whispers of the dead into him. “It’s… nothing very helpful. A lot of screaming, anger, soldiers giving orders—someone is talking about seeing Impa.” His eyes opened again and he looked up to Link. “Sorry.” 

“That’s alright, I wasn’t really expecting you to do that. I was just curious.” He stepped closer and let his hands settle along Sheik’s hip. “You seemed less distraught than in the well.” 

“Well, in there I hadn’t learned how to tune them out yet.” Turning he continued down the hall, taking Link’s hand and pulling him along. “You know Navi can see spirits and hear them too, right?” Link nodded, apparently having figured that out at one point. “It’s because fairies are connected to the spiritual parts of our world, and the Sheikah are in a way to. The eyes, seeing what those can’t. It’s like a sixth sense. To see, hear and communicate with that which an average person or Hylian, cannot. It’s not very useful, the dead are typically very unhelpful or angry.” 

“I remember Dampy, I could see him. He just wanted to play a game. He didn’t seem upset that he died but—I can’t say he seemed happy either.” They reached the door that he wanted and Sheik stepped to the side, choosing to let the Hero enter first this time knowing that what lingered on the other side was rather unpleasant. 

“Dampy is a special case, and I can’t explain why. He wasn’t normal even when he was alive.” Motioning toward the door he nodded at Link. “Are you ready for a fight? What we want is in there.” 

“Oh, good, do you know what it is at least?” 

“Mhm, I’ve seen it twice now. It’s the monster that took a bite out of me in the well. I’m pretty sure it’s the same one from the well too.” Link nodded and reached behind his back, grasping the hilt of the Master Sword. He nods toward Sheik and then pushes the door open to step inside the room. 

Unlike before they were prepared for this fight and the moment they entered the room Link stepped directly in front of Sheik to shield him. Sheik looked to the ground and narrowed his gaze, watching the shadows that moved beneath the floor. “It’s coming!” He rolled out of the way, crouching on the ground as the hands shot up into the air. Link slashed at one of them, severing the wrist and causing the tentacle like appendage to vanish under the ground once more. 

“We have to lure it out somehow, Sheik!” 

He knew that, but the matter of how they did it was a question. The last time, in the well, the head appeared when Sheik got grabbed. Maybe, if he let it get a hold of him again and they were prepared, Link could kill it before it bit Sheik. Standing from the ground he grabbed a Dirk from his thigh holder and made his way toward the first hand near him. As he approached it turned toward him and blindly reached out, a quick and wriggling motion. It caught his neck, something he really wasn’t expecting it to grab, and squeezed. The long needle like nails dug into his skin, causing blood to run down his neck and soak the collar of his shit. 

Link cursed, a string of sounds he’s never heard from the Hylian’s mouth. Sheik gagged, reaching up to grasp the fingers of the hand, digging his own nails into the pure white rubbery flesh. As it bled he grasped bits of the skin, pulling and tearing it off to try and remove the hand. Sheik truly couldn’t breath, and as he started to fight back the torso and head of the monster appeared from the ground. It started to make its way toward him and Link threw himself at it. Severing the head from the fleshy body with a few swipes of the Master Sword. 

As the body collapsed the hands burned up and Sheik dropped to the ground, coughing into his hand. It hurt more than he thought it would. “What was that?” Link fell in front of him, pulling out a bottle of water and a bandage from his bag. “You’re better than that, Sheik.” 

“Tactical capture. Getting caught is what lures it out. I didn’t think it would find my neck.” 

Link's hands gently tilted Sheik's head upward and a cloth was pressed into the wounds on his neck. The Hero cleaned the gashes from that monstrous hand, taking cautions to not put too much pressure on the wounds. "You don't need to use yourself as bait. I would have found another way. I'm pretty good at this by now, you know." 

"Would you have found another way, or would you just have used yourself instead?" Sheik can feel him pause, the rush of air that left his mouth in a huff. He knew he was right and a smile plays on his lips at having caught Link in his own trap. They bandage the wound around his neck and Link stands to his feet, helping Sheik back up. "With what's in the chest over there you can progress further in the Shadow Temple. Keep in mind though, Link, this place only gets worse the further down we go." 

"It hasn't been too bad so far." The chest was popped open and Link reached down inside, grabbing the items and pulling back out. He turned around to Sheik and hefted the items up, frowning at the Sheikah. "What… are these?" 

Back in the first room Sheik helped Link clip the wings to his boots, a rather difficult task when they kept moving. Apparently the iron boots had nearly gotten Link killed a few times in the Water Temple and he was strongly hoping it wouldn't be the same here. Sheik had no words of comfort for him considering if he doesn't use the boots right he will fall. They'll just try to avoid that. 

“Alright, your one job here, is to not fall.” Sheik motioned to the large gap that separated where they were standing and where they wanted to go. “You need to get a run, the hover boots will keep you from falling for about ten seconds. After that, you’ll drop.” 

“Not the most useful item is it?” Link looked down to the gap and then the boots, perhaps contemplating his chances of actually succeeding in this. Sheik had to admit, it was rather risky. If he didn’t run fast enough, which was hard enough to do in those boots, and get across that gap he’d drop to his death. Honestly the Sheikah would prefer to trust his own body mechanics than something like that, he was lucky they were trained in maneuvering places like this. He could jump that gap easily, Link had to trust those boots. 

Stepping up to the other’s side he brushed his shoulder against Link’s. Lifting his head up he let his gaze connect with theirs. “I believe in you.” He did, after everything that Link overcame this gap should be nothing, it should be just a small stone in the way of what was going to become a much more difficult journey. The Shadow Temple—what horrors it hid down there, were not easy. 

He had to do this. 

He wasn’t alone this time. 

“I’ll give you a push.” He moved behind Link and rubbed his hands together, taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. “On the count of three, Link.” His palms were placed flat against the Hero’s back. There was a nod, a breath and Sheik teased his legs. “One, two, three!” He shoved him with everything he had, giving Link a decent start. He skidded over the gap, across the other platform and right into the door. Safely to the other side Link turned and grinned at Sheik. His turn. 

Sheik took several steps back and turned, looking to the gap, the other ledge and then to where he was. Not far, he had certainly jumped farther than this in Death Mountain. Running the length of the space he had he jumped off from the ledge, leapt over the gap and landed in a crouch in front of Link. Standing back up Sheik dusted his hands off and headed through the door with Link behind him. 

“You’re perhaps the most nimble and flexible person I’ve ever met.” Glancing over his shoulder Sheik gave Link an amused look. “But given what I’ve seen of you fighting I’m not sure you’d last long in hand to hand combat. While you have good body stance when fighting and are fast, that quickly works against your favor if you find a foe who can knock you off balance.” 

“And that right there is why I fight at a distance.” The Sheikah Tribe were assassins for a reason, they excelled in that sort of thing. And when they couldn’t hide in the shadows, they fought at a distance with everything they had. That included speed. Impa was quick too, but she was better at close range because of her strength in using swords. 

They made their way down a set of stairs to the next floor and Sheik pushed open the door at the bottom of the steps to the next corridor. Link stayed close to his side as they entered the hall, gaze drifting around but clearly struggling to see in the darkness. His hand reached out and grasped Sheik’s elbow, keeping close to him and finding his way by holding onto his guide. 

“The Lens of Truth could give you sight, you know. It’ll make seeing through the darkness easier not to mention reveal what you can’t see.” Though it was far from ideal for Link to use it constantly that was what it was for, and if Link was struggling he wanted the other to use all that he had at his disposal. 

“Maybe I just want an excuse to hang onto you.” Link glanced down to the side at Sheik and even in the darkness he could see the grin that lit up the others face. Sheik turned away, feeling his ears heat in embarrassment. “Besides, you’re my guide. Guide me, Sheik.” 

“Very well, Hero. We’re going this way.” He heard the offended sound that Link made but just quickened his pace down the hall. They reached a door and Sheik pushed it open to a large circular room. He paused and cautiously took a few steps forward, glancing around as he slowed his pace. Link released him to walk off to the side and pull Din’s Fire from his bag, using it to light the torches on the sides of the walls. They lit up the room, casting shadows across every inch. Sheik followed them with his eyes, watching them flee from the light and crawl across the space. “The Shadows are only the darkest… when the light is at its brightest.” 

“What was that?” Link tucked Din’s fire away, looking at Sheik with what could be considered confusion but seemed more like worry. He understood that, it was a look that’s been on the Hero’s face since the Bottom of the Well. 

“Something Impa said, in reference to the Royal Family and the Sheikah’s relationship. It’s what she told me before she sent me in here the first time.” Stepping around Link he headed further into the room. “The Royal Family is the light, we’re their shadow. When they stand before us, powerful and leading Hyrule, they cast a larger shadow.” 

“I’m not sure if that’s as good a thing for your Tribe as Impa seems to believe.” Link stopped beside him and turned to Sheik. “Don’t let the light get so bright the darkness is cast out, Sheik.” Placing a hand on his shoulder Link turned him to meet his gaze. “Because even the shadows vanish. I saw that inscription at the entrance to the Shadow Temple.” 

“Here lies Hyrule’s bloody history of greed and hatred.” The quote fell from his lips easily, eyes falling from the Hero’s intent gaze. “Maybe Princess Zelda will lead Hyrule to a future where the Sheikah will be more than just a tribe constantly dwindled down due to their fear. But, we must rescue Hyrule first to find that out.” 

His answer didn’t satisfy Link, he could see that, but it wasn’t a conversation he was ready to have. Not now… maybe not ever. He was raised to honor, respect and dedicate himself to the Royal Family. He was named for a tribe that offered their life, body and very soul in service. That wasn’t something he could just dismiss. Not when Impa currently gave all three of those things away. 

“What is this room anyway?” 

“I’m not sure, I got further than this last time. I know we need to go through that door to the left.” He waved with his hand to the room off to the side. 

“Well, there’s also one behind you. And a locked one. Picked a direction.” 

“That’s not my job, oh Hero of Time.” 

The unamused look was back, accompanied with a rather pinched expression and Sheik felt an actual laugh tumble from his lips. He raised his hand up and covered the lower half of his mouth, a wide smile spreading across his face underneath the mask. 

“Sheik, as someone who has actually been here before, and as the Guide to the Hero of Time—pick a direction.” 

Sheik turned slowly to look at him, amusement still dancing across his face as he nodded his head to the request. “I want you to know you are the only person that takes the definition of the word ‘Guide’ to the very last letter.” What he wouldn’t tell Link though was that it felt good to be relied on so heavily, even if it took most the journey for them to reach this point. He felt like he was actually needed, that he was making a difference. 

Link’s left hand reached out, taking hold of Sheik’s and gently held it. “I’m the Hero of Time, right?” Sheik nodded, a bit confused on where this was going. “Then it’s for me to decide how I need to be guided, not everyone around me. Not even the Goddesses. If they want me to save Hyrule, then I should be allowed to use as much help and resources as I can.” He stepped closer and Sheik felt his breath catch in his throat. “And selfishly, it means I can keep you closer to me.” A beautiful smile played on Link’s lips, one that stole Sheik’s heart a little more. He leaned forward to brush those lips against Sheik’s forehead as he spoke. “So, Guide, pick a direction.” 

He might very well combust right here. Swallowing Sheik struggled to find his words. “Well, the thing that way is something out of a nightmare, so let's go the other way first.” Link readily agreed and followed after Sheik. 

The room they stepped into was full of Gibdos, the creatures standing in corners and twitching ever so subtly. Sheik hated everything about the way they moved, like someone kept dancing on their nerves and they couldn’t stop the movement. He grimaced tightly and reached behind him to grasp his harp. “I’ll play the Sun’s Song if you want to take them out. The sooner they’re gone the better.” Link nodded and Sheik tested the strings before letting his fingers dance across them. The Sun’s Song lit the room up and paralyzed the disgusting monsters, giving Link his opening to take them out. He didn’t stop till the last one fell to the Master Sword and the moment they were finished a chest appeared to Sheik’s eyes. 

Link picked around the room for whatever he could actually see while Sheik made his way to the chest. He kicked it open and reached down, pulling out a compass with a relieved sigh. “Look, I found something useful.” 

“You’re the only one between us that considers that useful.” He swung the Master Sword back into its sheath and looked to the item Sheik held with a frown. “I broke the one I got in the Water Temple by throwing it against the wall. It was—a little frustrating in there, with all the raising and lowering of the water levels. I actually got a sore throat in there from how often I needed to play the Ocarina.” 

“Considering you were raised in the forest and learned to navigate the world by your surroundings, that doesn’t surprise me you look at this like it’s trash.” Slipping his hand into the Hero’s pocket he fetched the folded up map and pulled it out. Shaking the paper out he sat down on the ground and placed the compass down on top of it. “But, I was raised amongst Royalty and a map is the most useful thing you can have. I don’t actually need this though until we hit the next floor.” 

Sheik had a good understanding of this place and what to expect in it but the problem came when he no longer knew the layout. Though intimately familiar with the second floor, when they hit the third one they were moving blindly. He figured out where they were and where to go before standing back up and passing the items to Link to put away. 

“Alright, where do we go?” 

“North.” 

The room that Sheik had labeled as ‘something from his nightmares’ was their next destination. The moment they stepped into the place Sheik ducked down and Link let out a sharp gasp before following suit. The large scythe flew over their head, just grazing the top of Link’s hat but thankfully not taking it. He crouched closer to Sheik’s side and cast wide eyed up at the spinning duo of Grim Reaper figures. “Your ancestors were insane! What is that?” 

“The Whirling Scythe. There’s a trick to this room.” Lifting his gaze to the higher levels he searched around and eventually spotted one of the five rupees hidden among the place. “This room is just a test of our dexterity… and maybe courage. I certainly didn’t have a fun time the first round in this room.” Letting out a sigh Sheik reached up and removed his head wrap, the weight from his hair and finally the harp. He sat everything down in front of Link and used one of the Dirk’s on his thighs to cut a length of his wraps that had bound his hair previously. Using that he twisted the long braid up into a bun and tied it in place. 

The entire time Link watched him, lips pressed together and that worried look once again returning. “What are you going to do?” 

“Hope I don’t fall. Hold my harp, I don’t want it broken if I get hit.” That didn’t at all ease the look on the Hero’s face, if anything it made it increase. Still, he collected Sheik’s things and tucked all of them away for safekeeping. With a nod Sheik stood up and threw himself over the oncoming blade. He rolled across the floor, used the momentum to push himself over the wooden board on the side and made his way to a nook in the room. He collected the first rupee and peeked out from the small hiding place.

The next two were along the Eastern end of the wall and this turned into a simple game of ducking and rolling. He tried to constantly keep the moving scythe in the corner of his gaze, listening for the sound of it’s movements and remembering the pattern of the size of the blades. If he just stuck low to the ground he was safe, the moment he climbed over something without remembering how far apart they were was the moment his head would roll. 

After getting the two coins to the East he turned his gaze to the spinning machine in the middle and sighed. The remaining two were quite literally attached to the Whirling Scythe. Both the reapers held one and to get them he needed to get closer. He considered his options; jumping from the possibly breakable shelf on the wall and landing on them or crawling his way closer underneath the spinning blades of death. Neither option was preferable. 

He decided to try jumping. 

Sheik looked back to where he had acquired one of the higher placed Rupee’s from and crawled his way underneath it. He waited for the first blade to spin past him before jumping and grasping the shelf in his hands. He pulled himself up, swung his legs over the edge and barely missing the swipe of the second taller blade. He let out a breath he’d been holding and turned to look to the reapers. 

Placing himself at the edge he crouched down and tried not to tense his body. If he didn’t jump far enough he’d fall right into the path of the blades. He’d done this before, the same way but then he’d been lighter and easier to fly. Younger, stupider. Sheik closed his eyes and prayed to Impa, asking for her blessing—and then he moved. Pushing off from the shelf he heard it crack and break, falling into pieces on the ground but having served its purpose. He flipped through the air, reached his hands out and caught himself on the inner far end of the higher placed Scythe. He was sure his heart stopped, that was the only way to describe the way it stuttered in his chest. 

To let go meant to die however so Sheik quickly clutched his hands over the metal part that held the blade. Thankfully it was wide enough he could probably even stand on top of it, but it spun far too fast for him to want to risk that. He heard the Hero call his name but didn’t dare look away, trying to spot where the Rupee’s were that he needed. 

One was directly in front of him and the other in front of one of the reapers. Sheik inched his way over the Scythe, stretching his left arm out as the right desperately clutched onto the sharp metal. He could feel the rusted pieces of it digging into his skin, painful and itchy. His fingertips brushed the end of the Rupee and he finally caught hold of it, yanking himself back and getting into a better position for the next one. He waited for the perfect moment and when he lined up with the final Rupee he threw himself off of the blade, between the next one and crashed into the ground. As he rolled he caught the last rupee and heard a cell door somewhere swing open. 

Sheik continued to lay on the ground, heart hammering in his chest and blades swinging over his head. After the adrenaline finally left him he managed to get over to where they had entered from, back pressed against the door and chest still heaving for air. 

“I got the key, let’s get out of here.” He helped Sheik up carefully and quickly pulled them back through the door, closing it behind then and clearly intending to ever forget any of that happened. The moment they were at safety the Hero wrapped his arms around Sheik’s waist and tugged him close against his chest. Sheik tensed briefly, arms hanging limply at his side as his face was pressed to Link’s neck. Despite his lack of a response the Hero didn’t let up, holding him like he was afraid Sheik would vanish before his eyes. 

The fact was that was quite a possibility though, wasn’t it? 

“You really scared me there for a moment, you know.” Link’s face tucked down into Sheik’s hair, unbothered by the bound up bun pressing against his mouth without a doubt uncomfortably. 

Slowly his own arms reached up and wrapped back around Link, settling against the warmth of his tunic. “I’m okay. I knew what I was doing.” Kind of but Link didn’t need to know the amount of doubt that had gone through in his head. “Come on, we need to keep going Link.” 

He pulled away and pat the others shoulder before continuing on to the final and locked door in the circular room. The key slid into the lock and the door slid open, giving way to the next area of the temple. 

They stepped forward until they reached the edge of the ledge that broke off into several ones scattered across the room. When he blinked he realized that the scattering broken stones were actually hidden to the normal eye. So, another ‘leap of faith’ kind of thing. 

“I see a giant crater.” 

Sheik hummed and turned to look at Link. “For this, I’d advise you to actually get the Lens of Truth out.” He watched Link reach into the bag and retrieve the purple object shaped like the Sheikah crest. He lifted it up to his left eye and looked through it out over the empty seeming room. 

“It’s like skipping stones.” He lowered the Lens back down and looked to Sheik. “Seems I’ll need the hover boots again.” 

As Link got himself hooked up Sheik turned back to the path and the platforms visible to his eyes. It made more sense for him to go on ahead, so that Link knew where to go without having to hold up the Lens of Truth and jump at the same time. “I’ll go ahead, Link, and then all you need to do is aim for me when you jump.” Looking back the Hero gave a nod of his head as he strapped the wings to his boots. Turning back around Sheik ran forward and leapt through the air, landing on the platform across from them. 

Standing back up he adjusted his clothes and turned back to Link. “Listen!” Sheik took a step forward and watched Navi float around Link’s head, drawing the Hero’s attention from his boots to the fairy. “Watch out for the Shadows of the Monsters that hang from the ceiling!” Wallmaster? 

Slowly, Sheik lifted his head upward to look at the ceiling. Squinting his gaze he slowly stepped backwards, searching for the shadows that Navi mentioned. It was hard, with everything else that moved in this place, but he caught sight of the Wallmaster when it jumped from a corner and started to fall toward him. Navi’s warning seemed to come a bit too late considering the monster had already caught sight of him. 

Sheik moved backwards as the dismembered hand crashed into his platform, shaking the unsteady rocks and toppling him over. He fell onto a piece of metal that was bolted down into the edge of the rock. As he sat up the rails that appeared to run upward and connect into the ceiling started rattling. 

“Sheik! Move!” 

The shout startled him and he pushed away from the ground, shoving his body over the edge of the platform and toward the next one. Without proper footing however he didn’t get enough upward momentum to properly reach the other. His fingertips barely grasped the edge of the rock, struggling to keep himself hanging. When he looked back he caught sight of the guillotine that had nearly severed his head from his shoulders. Teeth clenched together he tried to pull himself up, muscles straining and fingers burning with the forced effort. There just wasn’t enough of a foundation for his hands, his fingertips the only thing keeping him up. He slipped from the lack of grip and dropped back down, a startled gasp leaving his throat as he hit the rocks. 

A quiet thump behind him told him that Link had started to move and without the hover boots at that too. “Hang on, I’m coming!” 

“I don’t think I can!” He tried to pull himself up again and felt his fingers slip against the stone. The chipped and worn rocks cracked, breaking up in his grip and Sheik realized he was going to fall before it actually happened. His fingers slid and finally dropped away, sending his body tumbling toward the depths. Link shouted for him, voice echoing through the temple uselessly. 

He had to stop his descent. It was the first logical thought that moved through his head after the internal screaming. There was training for this, he knew what he had to do, and he surely had enough time. 

Think, think, think!

Impa’s voice echoed through his head, years of training, educating and lecturing him. She threw him down the mountains of Kakariko before, told him to catch himself, by her standards he had cheated but it had worked and she praised him for that. If he could just get close enough—

Reaching down Sheik grasped his Dirk’s and pulled them from the holders. He reached his hands out and dug the tips of the blades into the stone, lodging them deep in and using them to slow his body. The force of his fall made it quite hard for him to hang, the shake and burn felt in his hands almost too much. But his body did start to slow, enough he could swing himself forward and press the heels of his feet into the stone. 

He stopped. 

He stopped and Sheik could breath. Body still trembling but the fear edging away. For now. He had a new problem after all. 

Turning his head Sheik looked down below him into the unending darkness that swallowed the bottom of the temple. Down or up? Down might be easier but possibly endless, up could result in him falling again. 

_Fuck_. 

He had to go down. He could use his current footing and natural body weight to slide himself down, it would be easier than trying to go back up and risking falling anyway. Down might lead to nothing but it was easier to risk than falling anyway and finding out the hard way if there was solid ground beneath him. 

Taking a breath Sheik closed his eyes and leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the stone he was trying so hard to hang onto. “I’m sorry, Link.” 

He let go.

By the time Sheik hit the ground, or at least what he assumed was ground, he’d run out of Dirk’s and used every last needle in his uniform. The only weapon he had left then was the harp and he hoped it would be enough. There was nothing but darkness around him, so thick that even his eyes couldn’t see through it. 

It was cold down here, but the cold he’d contemplated before in the Ice Cavern. It wasn’t cold by normal means, the cold that gave him goosebumps. No. This was cold in his chest, grasping onto his heart like shards of ice and digging into him. It was a cold that told him he was alone and surrounded by his own shadows. Surrounded by the things that haunted his nightmares. 

Knowing he had to find his way out of here Sheik picked a direction and just started blindly walking. Sheik had seen the darkness before, he stared into the face of pure evil, and told someone that the person they loved with everything they had was never coming back. This felt like that. Walking without knowing if it’ll get better, walking without knowing if something will cast a light to turn the darkness into shadows. 

He walked till he got too tired, till his legs burned and his body begged for a moment of rest. He felt around on the ground and took a seat, reaching inside his suit to pull out his canteen. Taking a sip he let the water quench his horrible thirst and then put it back away. 

As he rested he tried to picture in his head where he was and what direction he’d been walking in. If he could remember the map that Link had there was a possibility for him to find a way to get back up. He could always play the harp and get himself back to the entrance. Reaching behind him Sheik felt along where he usually kept the harp and froze. “No…” 

He’d taken it off to lighten himself when he collected the coins and he never took it back from Link. So, not only had he run out of his weapons but he didn’t have his harp either. Closing his eyes briefly Sheik let himself sink into that horrible feeling of stupidity and self hatred, the mental berates he gave himself sounding oddly like his mothers voice. Not that she wouldn’t have slapped him upside the head for being so careless. 

This was his own fault.

“Oh Sheik, did you get lost in the darkness?” Body tensed the Sheikah tightened his hands into fists, gaze still staring at the blackness where his legs should be. The sound of steps approach and his heart races in fear. “Look at me.” He doesn’t want to, because though he knows it sounds like his mother it can’t be. The sound stops and Sheik can see the edge of his mothers boots, the blue of her uniform, the red of the Eye of Truth painted on it. In the darkness the figure appears. He knows it’s not her. “Sheik, look at me!” 

His head snaps up and Sheik’s eyes connect with the same shade of red reflected back at him. The fact of his mother looks at him, an expression he was used to on her face. Disappointment. “It seems you’re still not fit for the title you hold. Even with the Hero’s help you couldn’t make it through the second floor of the Shadow Temple. Who do we blame this time?” Don’t answer. Answering the darkness only fuels it. “Do you blame me again? Is it my fault? Or do you blame the Hero? He didn’t get to you in time and you fell.” 

Impa crouched down to his height and Sheik could feel the heat of his mothers body inches from his own. “This wouldn’t have happened if you stuck to the rules, you realize that don’t you?” The rules, the prophecy, was that why he had fallen down here? He clenched his eyes shut. Was this the Goddesses way of punishing him? Everything had seemed to be going so well. He had thought for a moment that Link actually had a point, his job was to guide him and how much guidance the Hero needed should have been up to him. They wanted him to save them all, shouldn’t he get every bit of help he needed to do that? 

Yet, here Sheik sat, swallowed up by the temple. 

His arms wrapped around his waist and he gripped the fabric of his suit. Was this his fault? How was Link going to find the Spirit Temple if Sheik was stuck down here wasting away? If he had Sheik’s harp? 

“You had a destiny to fulfill Sheik. I did mine, I took my place as the Sage of Shadows, what happened to you? How am I supposed to trust the Princess to you if you can’t even help the Hero properly?” He wanted to cover his ears, he wanted to leave this place. He wanted to **scream**. “You’re distracting him. If Hyrule burns do we blame you?” 

Sheik climbed to his feet and backed away from Impa. Eyes still clenched shut he didn’t see anything behind him until it bumped against him. He froze and slowly opened his eyes. Impa wasn’t there anymore, but there was something behind him. Swallowing he slowly turned, glancing over his shoulder and then spun around completely to face the Princess. 

She stood there, tears running down her face, green eyes full of sorrow he had only seen twice in his life. When she lost her family and Kingdom—and when she lost everything she had left; Impa. Zelda raised her head, every bit the Queen of Hyrule she was going to be, fierce and powerful yet so full of loneliness. Her mouth opened and as she spoke her voice cracked on her pain. “Why couldn’t it be you?” 

When she asked him that the first time she had instantly turned away, refusing to apologize but knowing she was in the wrong. This time she continued to look at him as if expecting an answer that Sheik didn’t have. Why couldn’t it be him? Zelda needed Impa, the Kingdom needed someone stronger than him. 

Who needed him, the Hero? If anything this proved he didn’t. Impa knew the songs. Surely, she could teach them to him? Why did it have to be him to guide Link? Why couldn’t he be the Sage of Shadows? 

The Hero. How many times had he told Sheik that he did need him? Isn’t that what he said before they walked in here? That he always needed Sheik. That he was important to him, that he saw someone who mattered, that without him—he wouldn’t have gotten this far. 

“What am I going to do without Impa.” Zelda weeped, throat catching on the words and tears falling down her face. His body tensed at the sound, gaze still firmly fixed on the ground. He’d heard her cry once in his entire life, and after that never again. “Do you think you can replace her? That you’ll be good enough?” 

“No.” His arms dropped down to his side and Sheik lifted his head, looking the Princess in the eyes. She gazed back at him, green eyes still unbelievably sad but Sheik saw the truth for what it was. Dull, lifeless, full of shadows. 

Unreal. 

“I will never be as good as my mother. I’ll never be as strong as her. She’s experienced far more than me and in the face of the cruelty of the world she still raised me to be a strong person. She made me everything I am and even if I won’t be better than her,” he took a step forward and saw the fear flicker in the shadows' eyes. “I am still a Sheikah Warrior.”

They vanished, gone into the darkness and leaving Sheik blind once more. He pressed his lips together and turned around, red eyes searching the darkness for the next trick. As he turned again he stumbled, catching the familiar green of a tunic and striking blue eyes. Straightening up he met the eyes of the Hero of Time, a smile on their face. “Do you think you’re good enough for that title? You left me alone.” 

No, he didn’t leave Link alone, he left Link with his harp. Even if it wasn’t intentional a part of him must have known Link would need it more than him. Sheik never went anywhere without that harp, he wouldn’t have just forgotten it. Destiny, maybe, but something made him leave it with Link. To trust the Hero so unconsciously he left a part of himself with him. 

“You’re wrong.” He stood a bit taller, back straighter. His hands hung at his side, clenched into fists and the weight on his chest lessened just a little bit more. Breath in, breath out. “None of this is real, none of it is right. You think you know me but you don’t. You think you can get inside my head again. It worked when I was thirteen, when I questioned myself, who I was, if my mother loved Hyrule and it’s Royal Family more than me.” He knew now that Impa loved him in her own way, she just wanted to prepare him for the world. “I’ve grown, and I’ve learned things. I can see the truth.” 

The shadow folded it’s arms across it’s chest, blue eyes assessing Sheik in a way he’d never seen Link do. “And what truth is that, little Sheikah?” 

“That solitude is not a strength.” He took a step forward, determined to overcome this. “As long as I have Impa, the Princess and the Hero of Time at my back I know I have the strength to continue. They might think the things you said, I’m sure my mother feels those words to some degree. I’m sure—the Princess wishes she could have Impa back.” Sheik shook his head and focused his gaze again on the shadow. “But they’re still counting on me and I still have a mission to complete.” 

“So what are you going to do?” The question sounded mocking and he realized that they were just playing with him, that this was just a game. They were letting him amuse himself thinking he had won something. Thinking he had made progress. It didn’t think he could actually do anything. Without his harp, maybe he couldn’t. But the harp didn’t make Sheik a Sheikah.

The harp was just an extension of himself. Sheik made him who he was. His blood, his mother, made him a Sheikah. 

And Sheikah controlled the shadows for which they were named. 

“I’m going to be a Sheikah Warrior.” Walking toward the shadow he moved with determination and intention. “You will yield to me and I will find my way through this place.” 

“You think you can beat me?” 

He stops, inches from the creature, and smiles. “I know I can.” Reaching his hand out he sunk it into their chest, into the form of the Hero of Time, and let his body grasp onto the cold feel of the shadows. He pulled that in, let it inside of himself and slipped into the darkness like his mother used to do. 

The shadows were a doorway between the world they saw and the world the spirits occupied. Sheikah could move between those worlds by using the shadows, walking among both the living and the dead. By letting himself consume the shadows of the Shadow Temple with his magic he moved through the dead of the place. Here and the bottom of the well were the only places Sheik knew where the Shadows were alive. He thought it had something to do with the Sheikah who died here. 

They yielded to him though and Sheik absorbed that power like a dying man. It wasn’t by any means a good feeling though, it was very much like being tossed into a frozen pond. That cold feeling consumed him entirely and when Sheik stepped out of the shadows his body was trembling, yet numb to the touch. He gripped his forearms, nails digging into his skin and looked around. 

The room he was in was full of cells and chains. He was sure he was past the third floor, but he hadn’t exactly been able to pay attention to where he was going. Walking through the shadows wasn’t the same as seeing, you moved with feeling rather than your eyes. All he thought was that he needed to get back to Link’s side, wherever the Hero had gone that is. 

Sheik turned and moved, walking through the room to see if he could catch sight of his green clad Hero. There was no map, the shadows didn’t seem interested in answering his questions, and he had no way of knowing where exactly Link had gone. 

There was a door where he was, or rather a trap door in the ground. Invisible to normal eyes but clear to Sheik’s own. Heading forward he pushed his way into the cell it was in and kicked the straw out of the way. Stepping forward he blindly dropped down through the hole and landed in another room. The shadows were thicker in here, powered by the grief, anguish and pain that had occurred in it. As he stood up he started forward, walking through the crawlspace-like area, needing to duck and even crouch the further in he went. 

When he emerged on the other side he straightened out to his full height and looked around. There was something strange about this particular room and as he walked forward his boots sunk into the water and muck that filled the place. Light shined through from somewhere, high above him and small cracks in the walls. As he raised his head to look up at them he caught sight of where the water was coming from. 

Giant skulls lined the side of the wall, covered in roots and moss like they were actually a part of it. The lower halves of the mouth were missing and it was from there water poured out and vanished into the ground. Each one had a hole beneath it where the water flowed into. 

He turned his gaze away from the sight and continued moving forward, pulled by an invisible force that just kept telling him this was the right way. Trusting himself was how he got this far, he’d keep doing it. 

When he got further down the path he caught sight of a form in the distance, crumbled up on the ground with their head in their hands. Quickening his pace he hurried after it, soon catching the green color of their clothes and spotting the Master Sword laying on the ground. 

Link. He finally caught up, he finally found him. Closing the distance between them he showed his pace and let out a relieved breath, smile pulling on his face. He was still alive, both of them were. 

The Hero moved, hand reaching down and gasping the handle of the Master Sword. They stood up and spun around, swinging the blade so quickly that Sheik needed to duck to avoid having his head severed from his neck. Far too many times that had nearly happened this week. “Hero!”

“You’re not real!” 

“I am very much real!” He moved to the side and felt the Master Sword slice the air where he stood previously. “I don’t want to fight you!” 

Link shook his head and spun away from Sheik, the sword tumbling from his grasp as his hands clutched at his head again. It was a familiar action, the same ones that Sheik had been doing to shut the shadows out. When they first entered this place Link hadn’t been able to see them, he’d only ever seemed worried when he watched Sheik spot them. How’d they get into his head? 

Stepping up to the Hero’s side he ducked around the side, trying to catch Link’s face. He had an idea, a worry, and hoping not to startle the Hero he reached his hand out to gently touch the man's shoulder. “Can you look up at me?” He sees the hesitation, the tension in his body and then slowly he picked his head up. The Lens of Truth was indeed strapped to Link’s head, the small glass object that fit comfortably in his hand as a child glaring at him. 

This place messed with a Sheikah’s head, but was only visible to a Sheikah’s eyes. By using the Lens of Truth he opened the doorway to his mind and invited the nightmares that existed in this place into him. Sheik reached his hands up, sliding his fingers against the Hero’s cheeks. He held Link’s face in his hands, feeling the cold of his skin and the dried tears. Had he cried when Sheik fell, or from fear? 

He hadn’t wanted to make the Link cry, surely they’ve both done enough of that. 

“You’re alright.” He moved his right hand up higher and grasped the Lens of Truth, slipping it off of Link’s head. Pulling back he turned and chucked it across the space, hearing it smash into the wall and crumble to pieces on the ground. 

Link didn’t need the Lens of Truth, he had Sheik. 

“Sheik?” Turning he looked back to the Hero and nodded his head. “It really is you.” His hands reached for him, body trembling much like Sheik’s own had been after experiencing the cruelty of the shadows. “I thought—and the shadows in this place they—“ 

“I know.” Quickly he moved to Link’s side, tossing his arms around the Link’s neck and letting himself be pulled in close. “I know. It’s alright. I’m here, okay? They’re not real.” 

“They felt real. Like the one in the Water Temple.” Sheik pulled Link closer at that, feeling the shake to his body. His head tucked into the crook of Sheik’s neck and a fresh wave of tears seemed to fall down the Hero’s face, absorbed by Sheik’s thin uniform. “I’m sorry I didn’t catch you.” 

“That is not your fault, don’t blame yourself.” Pulling back Sheik took Link’s face in his hands again and looked into his eyes. Link reached up and hooked his fingers around Sheik’s mask, pulling it down to settle around his neck. He slid his fingers against the edge of Sheik’s mouth, feeling the edge of his lips and the skin of his cheek. Leaning up, Sheik pressed his lips to Link’s, finally feeling the Hero’s body relax and the trembles lesson. 

They were both safe. 

They separated after a few more minutes of just holding each other, feeling safety and security in their presence. When he moved away Link reached down to grasp the Master Sword, swinging it back up. Sheik looked it over, admiring Link’s movements with the weapon and then remembered something very important. His own. “Can I have my harp back?” 

Link paused in sliding the sword into place on his back again, turning to look at him. The Master Sword clicked into its sheath and Link reached inside his bottomless bag, digging around until he finally pulled it free. “I got it out once to give it to you, well—shadow you. The shadow tried to touch it and—well that’s how I realized none of this was real.” 

“Really?” Sheik took the harp, ignoring the watchful gaze the Hero had as if it would evaporate him too. It might take him a few more minutes to be sure he’s not hallucinating. “I guess that makes sense, the harp is—according to legend—made from light. Our myth says it was played by the Goddess Hylia herself.” He plucked a few strings to test it and then played the Prelude of Light. The corridor they were in burst to life, light filling the entire place and chasing the darkness around them away. He let the last note drift off and when the vibration stopped tucked the harp where it belonged behind him. 

The last bit of tension left the Hero’s body at that and a smile fully formed on his face. “We should finish this place so we can leave.” 

“I’ve never agreed with anything more.” 

Finding their way back to the room Sheik had previously been in wasn’t hard. They walked back the way that they came, avoiding sinking too much into the ground. Getting back up was a bit more difficult but Link simply pulled out the hook shot and yanked Sheik close to him. He swung them back up and then spun them to stable ground, putting the time away in his bag. 

“You broke the Lens of Truth, I’m not sure how well the rest of this is going to go. I was relying on it quite heavily to not get myself killed.” He turned to look at Sheik, far more amused than his words made him seem. “You know me and a childhood friend went through a lot of work to get that.” 

“We’re not childhood friends. You dragged me from my comfortable place of sulking and dropped me into a hellish place. Once.” Sheik walked past him toward the exit of the cell they were standing in. Link chuckled behind him and stuck close. “To answer your question though, you still have a Lens of Truth.” Tilting his head back he looked over his shoulder to Link. “I’ll be your guide, Hero.”

The smile got wider, gentler, and Link reached out to grasp Sheik’s hand in his. “I’m counting on you, then.” 

They made their way through to the next room over and came face to face with a giant boat. Or, rather, a ferry. They moved a block to create a path up to a ladder and climbed their way up to the ledge that would allow them to jump over onto the ferry. Link made his way across first, landing on the ferry and glancing around trying to make sense of it. Sheik followed quickly after him and stepped right up to the crest of the Triforce. Looking down at it he stared at the glowing mark and then reached behind him, pulling out the harp. 

Link caught sight of him and followed his movement, retrieving the Ocarina of Time from his bag. Resting his instrument in the crook of his arm he plucked a few notes and then began to play the Nocturne of Shadows. The haunting melody of the song echoed in the enclosed space, chilling his bones once again and inviting the shadows in close. Once Link caught on to what he was playing the melody of the Ocarina of Time joined him and together they dueted the song. Of all the melodies he taught Link that he’d like to play again with the Hero, this was at the very bottom of the list. It wasn’t one he was fond of, not like the others. 

When the song finished the boat kicked to life, rolling down the water and pushing them along the path. Sheik tucked his harp away and looked around him, finding the statue of the Reaper at the end of the ferry and the bloodstained marks that covered the wood. He walked his way along it and peeked over the side to see what was actually moving the thing. 

“Sheik, we have a couple stowaways.” Leaning back he turned and looked to where Link had been standing, two Stalfos facing him with swords and shields readied. Pushing away from the edge of the ship he made his way over toward the Hero. 

Reaching back he grasped the harp once more and pulled it back out. “I ran out of Dirk’s but I’ll do my best.” He plucked a few notes, nodded to Link and then took on one of the Stalfos. Sheik ducked and rolled when the sword came for him, quickly pushing himself back up to his feet and playing a few notes to knock the Stalfos back. Continuing the assault he eventually defeated the Stalfos with enough hits, turning them to ash he kicked over the edge of the ferry. 

Turning back to Link he watched the Hero finish his own enemy off and return the Master Sword to his back. When he turned to check on Sheik the Hero’s eyes quickly widened at something and he rushed forward, grasping Sheik’s hand in his and making for the ferry’s edge. “Time to go!” 

He jumped off and tossed Sheik ahead, the Warrior hitting the ground and rolling to the side. He pushed himself up, shook his head and tried to get his bearings back. "I've got you." Link pulled him up by his arm and Sheik picked a few rocks from the bun of his hair. “Sorry, the boat was sinking.” 

“Ferry.” Sheik corrected him quietly, pulling the bindings from his hair and letting the braid fall down along his back again. The hair weight he usually wore was retrieved from Link’s bag and he took Sheik’s hair gently in his hand, working it into the bottom of it. “That ferry must be what was used to carry the bodies through the temple. I wonder… where it drops off to.” He wasn’t curious enough to find out though and given the hum Link provided him with, he probably thought the same. 

The weight was released and Sheik’s hair fell down against his lower back, settling in place properly with the weight to keep it there. They turned their attention to where they were instead and began to look around. Link found a fairy in a pot and caught it in a bottle, placing it down inside his bag. Sheik found the boss room. 

“Did you find the key?” 

“Mm. It was in a room with your favorite monsters, Gibdos, a lot of them too.” Sheik scrunched his face up in disgust, turning away from the Hero as he chuckled. “I know, they still freak me out a bit too. Gotta admit though, it was easier to fight them when you were in there playing the Sun’s Song.” 

That made him feel pretty good, knowing he had been useful. “The sanctum is beyond here, then.” Link nodded and reached into his pocket, pulling out the key. Turning he offered it out to Sheik who blinked at the Eye of Truth shaped tool, purple and gold in color. Lifting his gaze he met the Hero’s eyes. 

“You deserve it.” 

He shook his head. “I didn’t get here on my own. I needed help and even then I still failed, I fell.” 

“Sheik.” Link took his hand and placed the key down into his palm. “We all need help, and you not only picked yourself up from that place but you saved me too. You might not have overcome this place as you thought you were supposed to, but you still managed to. You beat the Shadow Temple.” 

Perhaps… it wasn’t how he did it, but that he faced his darkness and he won. He stood up to the things that haunted his nightmares, the cruel words that tortured his mind. He became a Sheikah Warrior and used the shadows to reach the end of the temple. Did that make him worthy of his ancestors? Did he honor the name of the tribe he was named for? 

Sheik nodded and adjusted his grip on the key, turning to the door and slipping it into the lock. They tossed the chains aside and Sheik pushed the door open. 

It was a large room with a stone floor and tall walls. Sheik’s gaze focused on the writing he spotted and he made his way toward the wall, tracing the symbols on it that formed the Sheikah Tribe writing. Name, another name, and another. He reached his hand out and placed the tips of his fingers over the characters that created the name ‘Impa’. It was such a common one, gifted to the oldest daughter of the Tribe Leader each generation so it was impossible to say if it was his mother or not but the name still rang through him. 

Link suddenly shouted in fright and Sheik spun around, gaze searching for the Hero of Time. He didn’t see him but what he did spot was a hole in the middle of the floor. Rushing over he dropped down to his knees, fingers curving over the edge of the drop down and looked inside. “Link!?” 

“I’m alright!” He could see the Green of the Hero’s tunic and he watched him take a few steps back, reaching for the sword behind his back. Navi fluttered around his head, a bright blue light that cast a glow on Link’s body and made him easier to keep track of. 

“Listen! It’s the Boss of the Shadow Temple revived from the well. Bongo Bongo can only be seen with the Eye of Truth, Link! What do we do?” 

“Sheik, we might have a problem. I can’t see it!” 

He swung his legs over the edge of the hole and dropped himself down inside it, hitting the ground—or what was supposed to be a ground. He stumbled to the side and Link caught him on the arm, pulling him behind his body. Sheik looked up and spotted the giant monster that overlooked them, the same one that had attacked him in escaping the well and stole his mother from him. 

“What’s it look like?” Link squinted into the nothingness, looking where Sheik was but not seeing it. How to describe Bongo Bongo was rather difficult to do, it wasn’t really something that had a list of definable words to describe it with. 

“Like a giant floating eye with severed hands.” Was what he settled with and it was enough for Link considering the horrified expression he took on. “Okay, you’re going to want your bow, Link. I’m going to direct you as much as I can. We’ll have to take out it’s hands first before aiming for the eye. Are you with me?” 

He nodded his head and retrieved the bow from his pack. Turning to Sheik he held it out and the Sheikah took it with a confused expression. “I’m counting on you. Shoot the hands and direct me to the eye.” It’s easier he supposed, but Sheik wasn’t the Hero. Well, it wasn’t like they were doing this by the prophecy anymore. 

This was their story, they’d write it how it worked for them. If he had to break the rules to keep Link alive, to save Hyrule, what did it matter in the end? Link turned back away and Sheik followed his gaze, looking up at Bongo Bongo. “I’m always with you, by the way. Let’s go!”

The thing they stood on, which Sheik now realized was probably a drum, made it very hard for him to keep his balance. What made it worse was that the drum was also sitting in a vat of poison. It burned his eyes and made it hard for him to keep looking at Bongo Bongo for long. His eyes watered from the horrible burning feeling. 

They stood far back against the edge of the drum and Sheik used the bow and arrow to take down one of the hands. When one was down the other swung in and either tried to catch them, pound them into the ground or throw them from the drum. Sheik would shout for Link to roll to avoid it and they’d meet again at one of the edges. They started to get into a rhythm where they could take one hand out and Sheik could direct Link to hit the other with the Master Sword rather than avoiding it. 

When they took care of the hands Sheik ran forward and pulled an arrow back on the bow, taking aim at the giant open eye. He let the arrow fly through the air to hit it’s mark. Bongo Bongo fell to the ground, crashing on the drum and sending Sheik flying across it. Propping himself up he directed Link to where it was and he attacked it with the Master Sword. 

They repeated the process over and over, picking each other up when they got knocked down and covering when they needed to cough out the poison in the air. The fight finally ended with Link driving his sword into Bongo Bongo’s eye, the monster screaming in pain and quivering on the ground. It seemed even if Link couldn’t see Bongo Bongo he could hear it scream in pain. He yanked the sword out and stepped away, staring at the spot Bongo Bongo was for several long moments. 

A blue portal appeared on the ground and as they continued to stare Sheik swore he heard a whisper in his ears. _“Thank you.”_ It was such a quiet sound he could have been wrong, could have been mistaken, but when he met Link’s gaze across the battlefield he knew he wasn’t. He’d heard it too. 

Bongo Bongo must have been suffering. 

Link helped him up to his feet and he checked the Hero over for wounds. There was a decent sized gash on his arm from where he’d gotten swiped by one of the hands but aside from that the damage was minimal. He used the bindings from his hand and wrist as a bandage for him to stop the bleeding. 

“Thanks.” He rolled his shoulder and tested the arm before looking at the portal. “Okay Sheik, let’s go.” 

“Wait! I don’t—I don’t think I’m allowed in the sacred realm.” Actually he was fairly certain that he couldn’t, it wouldn’t make sense. It wasn’t something Impa had explained to him because she assumed he’d be doing his job properly. Link, unswayed apparently, pulled him by his hand into the glowing blue light and Sheik found himself swallowed by a powerful force. 

The room… was very blue. Very, very blue, and bright. So bright. When the light cleared from his vision and he could take the place in properly, he found it was pretty. There was a flash in front of him and he looked forward, peeking over Link’s shoulder. There, standing across from them on the Shadow Medallion, was his mother. Impa was well, alive thankfully, and so close to him. If he just walked forward… he could probably reach her. 

But her eyes found him, standing just beyond Link, and the shock that spread across her face froze him in place. Impa closed her eyes, turned away from him and he watched her take a deep breath before letting it out. 

So, he did disappoint her. 

She returned her gaze to them and focused on Link. “The boy with the noble Princess’s Ocarina… you have come. As I’m sure you know, I am Impa, one of the Sheikah. I am also Sheik’s mother, Princess Zelda’s caretaker and now… I am the Sage who guards the Shadow Temple.” She paused enough to look at Sheik again but didn’t speak to him. “We Sheikah have served the royalty of Hyrule from generation to generation as attendants. However on that day seven years ago, Ganondorf suddenly attacked and Hyrule Castle surrendered after a short time. Ganondorf’s target was one of the keys to the Sacred Realm, the hidden erasure of the Royal Family—the Ocarina of Time.” 

Sheik knew this story and looking up at Link’s face he saw that the Hero wasn’t surprised. From what Zelda told him Link had been on his way back to the Castle and was caught in between her and Ganondorf. Perhaps he knew this story then too. “My duty bound me to take Zelda out of Ganondorf’s reach. When last I saw you as we made our escape from the Castle, you were just a child. Now I see that you have become a fine man… a Hero.” 

This conversation had taken a strange turn and Sheik frowned at his mother. “There is nothing to worry about now, the Princess is safe. I have left her in the hands of someone I trust and soon when all the sages are gathered, she will make her return.” Impa lifted her head higher and her gaze settled over Link’s shoulder to where Sheik stood. “Sheik, come closer.” 

He tensed, muscles clenching as he wanted to run rather than do this Swallowing he took a step closer and Link moved to the side, watching Sheik with a worried gaze. He reached the edge of the platform they stood on and bowed low to his mother. “Lady Impa, I’m sorry. I tried—“ 

“I don’t want your excuses.” It felt like a slap to the face and if he was a lesser person he would have undoubtedly flinched like she had. “Straighten yourself up, stand tall. You’re a Sheikah Warrior, the last one now.” Picking himself up he held his head high and met his mothers gaze. “When darkness plagues the land a Hero cloaked in green will heed the Princess of Destiny’s call, aided by a Sheikah. The Sheikah will teach the Hero of Time the six songs needed to guide him in his journey.” 

“I know the prophecy!” 

“Then how did you deviate so far from it!?” 

“I’m sorry—“ 

“It was my fault.” They both turned to look at the Hero, Link’s hand resting on Sheik’s elbow and attempting to pull him back away from Impa. “It’s my fault. I convinced him, I dragged him into it. Sheik tried hard to stick to the rules, I broke them. Don’t blame him.” 

Silence perminanted the room, both the Sheikah’s watching Link with various expressions. Sheik’s was shocked and Impa’s was contemplative, bordering on anger. There was a tick in her jaw, the subtle grinding of her teeth and then a heavy sigh left her. Sheik watched his mother deflate a bit, settling into something like acceptance. A nod to herself and she lifted her gaze. 

When she spoke this time it wasn’t in Hylian, but their own language, Sheikah. “I’m disappointed. But, if this is the path that you have taken, I won’t talk you out of it. I’m not sure that I could.” 

“Mom—“ 

“Let me finish, Sheik.” He nodded even if his mind screamed for him to explain himself, to get her approval. He’d tried so hard to do the right thing and when he felt he had it in his grasp, it was still wrong to her. Was there even a right choice here? “I wanted you to know your destiny so strongly because it gave you a place in this battle that kept you from getting hurt.” What? “You had one job, and that job was just to teach the Hero. Not to fight, not to die, not to be stuck in this place. I thought—it was best for you.” 

She looked to Link again and something he thought was understanding filled eyes. “I suppose I underestimated the bond that would form from that.” This time when she looked at Sheik she smiled, the kind of smiles that he’d seen her give the Princess. A smile… full of love. “The Hero and his Guide. Sheik, if this is the path you take, promise me you’ll be safe.” 

He closes his eyes, takes a breath and then nods his head once. “I will try.” 

“That is all I can ask of you.” 

Impa turned her gaze to Link and returned to speaking Hylian so the Hero could understand them once more. “Sheik, Hero of Time, I have to stay here. You two must go to Princess Zelda’s side and protect her on my behalf. Now, I’ll put my power into the Shadow Medallion. May it be helpful to you.” Link collected the Shadow Medallion and added it to the others, making Impa the fifth sage to add her power to his. His journey… was nearly done. 

The light started to consume them and Impa stepped forward toward them, her gaze meeting his. “Sheik, my son, I love you.” 

He nods, because he does know that, no matter how many times they are at odds. No matter how often he questioned where he stood with her. He knows that. “I love you too.” 

[ △ ]

To Link’s frustration they separated paths again after leaving the Shadow Temple. However as much as he wanted to continue to accompany the Hero he had to check in with Zelda and report to Ganondorf. No doubt the man was wondering where he was. The Princess wasn’t interested in seeing him but confirmed she was still safe, healthy and very, very, upset. He could deal with the last part as long as she was still out of the cruel man's hands. 

The meeting with the Evil King however didn’t go nearly as well. Sheik walked into the room and immediately the man sat straighter in his chair, which was never a good sign. He narrowed his gaze at Sheik before tilting his head to the side, an appraising look. “You know, I always found it interesting. How a Sheikah could betray the royal family. After all it seems integrated into your very blood to protect them. To answer their call like a dog.” 

He didn’t tense his body, was sure he didn’t give any sort of reaction, but the feeling to flee from this room was definitely increasing with each second. “Is there a point to this?” He knows better by now than to talk back, he does. But sometimes his mouth runs for his brain and it’s never smart when it does. This time thought—this time Ganondorf laughs and that is what sends the real fear through his body. 

“You’ve been helping the Hero. No, no, don’t try to deny it… I **saw** you.” 

_Fuck_. 

He should have known, of course it was a terrible idea to go into the Shadow Temple. Bongo Bongo—Ganondorf was spying on them through its eye! Fuck, fuck! There was no point in denying it, no point in fighting back. He knew and there was nothing Sheik could say to deny that fact. It was over. “What are you going to do?” He threw the question out there, still holding himself high like the Warrior he was. He would not cower in the face of evil. 

The grin that spread over the monster's face was by no means comforting. He stood from the chair and held his hand out, sword materializing in his grip. He swung it downward, tip grazing the floor and dragging across it as he walked toward Sheik. “I’m sending the Hero a message. Be a good dog and deliver it, will you?” 

There was a lot of blood, a lot. Sheik sat in the middle of Impa’s house surrounded by it along with bandages and red stained cloth. He had to cut his uniform from his body, peel the dried crusted bits of it from his skin and throw it to the side. To his humiliation he had cried in pain, in front of Ganondorf and alone in the house. His tears had only brought the man more joy and disgustingly, pleasure. 

Sheik had gone to Granny first, the old woman in the potion shop, and she’d done what she could for him which also involved shoving buckets of red potion down his throat. The worst of it had closed up, slow but aided by the red potions. Fairies didn’t work for these types of wounds, as much as he wished just visiting one of them would fix him. 

It wasn’t so bad, it could be worse, Sheik had fought as hard as he could which perhaps was what saved his life. He’d fled from the room only when Ganondorf let him, clearly having grown bored with the game. It was by no means quick, he was limping the entire time and his left arm was all but useless. Granny had set it, she said and the potion would make it someone more useful by the next day. He could move it now but not lift it the entire way up. 

He needed more time to rest but the Spirit Temple wasn’t just going to wait for him. Taking a breath Sheik pushed himself to his feet, stumbled, and gripped the wall. Just get there, and back. He could make it. Grabbing his harp, Sheik played the Requiem of Spirit and let the song for the desert take him to where he’d find Link. 

Apparently, the only way to get through the desert was with the Eyes of a Sheikah. Although it was apparently possible to still get through it without it, Link had gotten turned around so many times he very nearly dehydrated in the middle of a sandstorm. He reached the end through sheer luck but was exhausted and desperate for something to drink. Sheik watched from his place on top of the temple as Link drowned his entire canteen of water in a single go. 

Shaking the empty canteen Sheik let out a sigh and smiled fondly. He’d give him the water he had on him after they finished talking. Standing up he fixed his uniform, an extra from the house, and threw himself over the edge of the temple. He landed unsteadily, nearly falling right over and bit the inside of his cheek until it bled. Slowly he rose to his feet and lifted his gaze to the excited and cheerful one of the Hero of Time. 

“Past, present, future. The Master Sword is a ship with which you can sail upstream and downstream through time’s river. The port for that ship is in the Temple of Time.” Sheik slowly approached the Hero, trying his best not to limp and clearly failing with the way the expression on Link’s face changed. “To restore the Desert Colossus and enter the Spirit Temple, you must travel back through time’s flow.” He tried to reach behind him but his left arm would move properly enough to do it. Giving up he reached with the other one and retrieved the harp, passing it to his left hand to hold it. “Hero, listen to the Requiem of Spirit. This melody will lead a child back to the desert.” 

At least he didn’t interrupt Sheik, even if he had questions. Holding the harp he played a few notes, the melody filling the space between them. It wasn’t a bad one though it had a haunting edge to it, nowhere near the same as the one that filled the Shadow Temple. It was quite elegant when the Hero joined him, and he thought somehow it fit the Gerardo. The song ended and Sheik lowered the harp down, passing it to his right hand to tuck behind him once more. 

“Sheik, what happened?” 

A sigh fell from his lips and he just sat down, looking more like he collapsed against the steps of the Spirit Temple. Link stepped up to him and knelt down, his hands reaching out to feel over Sheik’s body. He cursed under his breath at finding the bloodied bandages and looked to the Sheikah for answers. 

“Ganondorf figured out I was spying on him.” He watched the Hero’s eyes widen, a terrified expression forming on his face. Sheik nodded. “I know. It was in the Shadow Temple, he was watching through Bongo Bongo’s eyes. Or—well rather eye. Either way, that’s what happened. He wasn’t pleased, this is his response to that.” He motioned toward his body. “Apparently it’s also a threat against you.” 

That did not make Link pleased, he narrowed his gaze at Sheik’s body and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I shouldn't have dragged you with me.” 

“No. I knew what I was doing when I started this. Besides, I’m—really glad I was there with you. I am.” He leaned forward and pressed his head into Link’s chest. “I’m glad I was helpful, and I’m so happy I got to see my mom again.” Link’s arms reached up and wrapped around his upper body, holding Sheik against him. “I’m alright. Besides, we’re almost there to the end, aren’t we?” The man nodded against his head and Sheik smiled. “Great. I think I’m going to pass out, by the way. If I do just go on ahead, I know you’re busy.” 

He did, then, proceed to fall asleep against the Hero of Time feeling safe and protected. 

When Sheik woke again it was somewhere cool, wrapped in a calming place that eased his mind. He opened his eyes to a colorful ceiling, crystals reflecting water. He closed his eyes again, let out a breath and then slowly opened them again. He felt better, though his body was still sore. Pushing himself up water rushed around him, pushing over the edge of the pool he was laying in. 

Little lights moved around him, pink and glowing fairies dancing across his body. So, he was in a fairy fountain. A great fairy fountain at that too, not one of the smaller ones. Looking down to his body he moved his arm, finding it capable of its usual range of motion and the worst of the wounds healed up. So, Link prayed to a Great Fairy to heal him then. A smile spread over his face at that. He felt—truly blessed. 

He should get up, he needed to collect the Princess and make for the Temple of Time. Nodding to himself Sheik pushed up to his feet, shook the water from his braid and looked around the fountain. He found his clothes and harp, the items tucked away against the wall and safe from getting wet. He dressed himself quickly, made sure to rewap his bandages that needed to be and picked up the harp. 

Princess Zelda was not where he left her. No. The room when he finally made it there was completely empty, ripped apart and fire long since burned out. There was a bowl of spilled soup across the ground, cold and long left behind. She wasn’t taken recently. She must have been grabbed after Sheik’s visit to Ganondorf. 

He should have known, should have figured that once he knew Sheik wasn’t working for him that he was the one who was hiding the Princess. Rage and disappointment rolled through him, anger at himself and fear for what his mother would have said. Another disappointment but worst of all a failure as who he was. Now the Princess was gone and he had no idea what was happening to her. 

Staying here and hating himself wouldn’t make any progress. Sheik kicked the bowl and stormed out of the room, leaving the Sheikah tunnels and making his way toward the Temple of Time. 

Like before he waited for Link, sitting in the rafters of the Temple of Time. It felt like they had come to a complete circle in their trip, after all it started here and it was about to end here too. Link appeared with the song that Sheik taught him, very fitting in nature and as the Hero started forward toward the sword's resting place he swung himself down and landed softly behind him. 

“I’ve been waiting for you.” Link spun around, that smile on his face again and quickly approached Sheik. He reached his hand out and placed his palm flat against the Hero’s chest, stopping him from coming closer. He needed to tell him first, everything, and he would do it as Sheik rather than the guide. No more vague stories and blind guiding. Reaching up Sheik yanked his mask down and then met the Hero’s gaze. “Link, the Hero of Time. You have overcome many hardships and awakened the six sages. And now you have a final challenge, a showdown with Ganondorf. The King of Evil. Before that I have something I need to tell you, please listen.” Link nodded, because he always listened and Sheik’s fingers curled into the Hero’s tunic. “Another unknown legend of the Triforce, passed down by the shadow folk, the Sheikah—

If you would seek the sacred triangle, listen well. The resting place of the sacred triangle, the Sacred Realm, is a mirror that reflects what is in the heart, the heart of the one who enters it. If an evil heart the realm will become full of evil; if pure, the realm will become a paradise. The Triforce, the sacred triangle, it is a balance that weighs the three forces; power, wisdom and courage. If the heart of the one who holds the sacred triangle has all three forces in balance, that one will gain the True Force to govern all. But, if that one’s heart is not in balance, the Triforce will separate into three parts; power, wisdom and courage. Only one part will remain for the one who touched the Triforce, the part representing the force that one most believes in. If that one seeks the True Force that one must acquire the two lost parts. Those two parts will be held within others chosen by destiny, who will bear the Triforce mark on the backs of their hands.” 

By the end of the long speech, the legend of the Triforce, Sheik had removed his hand from Link’s tunic and stepped away. He wandered over to the stone slate that once held the gems Link collected as a child. He stared down at the notes written into the stone, arms folded across his chest. Link watched him the entire time, listening to the story but not truly understanding the point of it. Sheik took a breath and looked upward to the ceiling of the Temple of Time. 

“Seven years ago Ganondorf, the King of Thieves then, used the door you opened in the Temple of Time and entered the Sacred Realm. However, when he laid his hand on the Triforce the legend came true. The Triforce separated into three parts and only the Triforce of Power remained in Ganondorf’s grasp. The strength of the Triforce of Power enabled him to become a mighty, evil king, but his dark ambitions were not satisfied.” He turned to face Link properly and looked to his eyes. “To gain complete mastery of the world Ganondorf started looking for those chosen by destiny who held the two other Triforce parts.” Taking a step closer he reached his hand out and grasped Link’s left hand in his right. “The one who holds the Triforce of Courage is you, Link.” 

His eyes widened and Sheik tightened his grasp on the Hero’s hand. This had to be a lot to take in suddenly and he wished he could ease him into it just a little bit, but time was running out. The longer this went on the less time Princess Zelda probably had. If Ganondorf didn’t find a way to take the Triforce from her yet. “The other one, the Triforce of Wisdom, is held by the seventh sage—the one destined to guide them all. Princess Zelda.” That didn’t seem to surprise him nearly as much and if Link was properly following all these legends he supposed it wasn’t that difficult to figure out. 

His eyes closed briefly and he let out a sigh, the stress seeming to finally get to him a bit. Sheik squeezed his hand in reply to that and the Hero opened his blue eyes to Sheik once more. “Any other surprises?” 

Right, now the important part. Releasing Link’s hand he took a few steps back and nodded. “Due to my own negligence when I got found out by Ganondorf he figured out where the Princess was hiding.” A clench of the others hands, not in anger but rather frustration. It was something Sheik felt intimately. “I’m sorry, he took her.” 

“That is not your fault. Seven years is a long time to hide from him, you and Impa did the very best that you could and you fooled him as a spy for just as long.” Stepping up to Sheik he reached his hand out and gripped his shoulder. “I will save her.” 

A smile and Sheik stepped closer to the other. “I know, I believe in you, I always have.” Pushing up he placed his lips against the Hero’s and softly kissed him. For good luck, for hope, for their future and their past. For the chance that either one of them might not come back. It was a goodbye as much as it was a good luck. He refused to let all of it end without first making it clear to someone who fought so hard for him what he felt. He deserved to know and hear the truth from the one he chased since the beginning to the very end. 

“When my mother gave me my destiny I fought against it for a very long time. I told her I accepted it and I trained from the moment I could pick up a harp to the day you met me, but I fought myself refusing to believe I was good enough.” One wrong move at any point and Impa made it sound like Hyrule would burn because of him. It was a heavy burden to bear. Nowhere near the level of one Link carried, but heavy regardless. 

A smile twitched on Link’s lips and he leaned forward to bump his forehead against Sheik’s. “I know, you threw your harp at me.” 

“I threw it at the wall, your body got in the way.” The laugh that pulled form Link was well worth it. “I think, in some way, I still didn’t believe I could do this until I met you. Until you were chasing me after each temple trying to close the distance between us. Until that day you finally caught me.” He shakes his head and smiles at Link. “You made me believe in myself, you gave me a sense of purpose. As much as I guided you through your journey, Link, you guided me on my own.” He pushed their foreheads together again and the smile that fully fledged across his face was true and bright. “Thank you for chasing me.” 

He feels the Hero smile against his lips, placing another kiss on them as he leaned against Sheik. A hum sounds between them from him and he leans back, looking down into Sheik’s eyes. “I will always chase you, you’re a part of my life, my adventure—the story that we created. You’re my world, Sheik. I don’t know what I would have done without you.” 

They stay there for a few more minutes, wrapped in each other’s embrace and feeling the warmth of their words. As much as he wished the moment could have carried on forever Sheik knew that the Princess was waiting and the final battle was hovering over both their heads. Much to both their regret they separated and Sheik checked his weapons to ensure he was prepared enough for the fight. 

With one quick final parting kiss they headed for Hyrule Castle beyond the town. 

Having spent the last seven years sneaking inside and out of the Castle he showed Link the best path to get inside and avoid meeting the enemies. A fight still broke out of course, the Evil King was clearly waiting for their arrival, but it was far less of one that they would have had if they took the front door. 

Apparently since the last time he was here however with Princess Zelda’s power Ganondorf had managed to create a barrier that sealed the throne room. This was where the power of the sages came in. With the Medallions they had Link could break the barriers that he had formed, once connected by the six temples. 

His mother had been far from pleased to see him when they broke the Shadow Barrier but simply begged them to save the Princess. Perhaps she wasn’t surprised this was the end result. 

When the last barrier fell they rushed the throne room, side by side and fueled by their shared strength. Sheik stood beside Link, looking across the room he had become intimately familiar with these last seven years. The Princess floated in the middle of the room, trapped in a crystal, and at the far end of the throne room Ganondorf stood, playing the Organ. A startled gasp from his side drew Sheik’s attention to the Hero and looking down at his hand he watched the Triforce light up the back of it. Princess Zelda’s mirrored his, the glow of the Triforce igniting on her skin. 

Ganondorf stopped playing the Organ. “Sheikah boy, why don’t you tell your Hero what’s happening.” 

He swallowed and shifted beside Link, tightening his grasp on the harp. “The Triforce pieces are resonating. They’re combining into one again.” 

“The two Triforce pieces that I could not capture that day seven years ago… I didn’t expect they’d be hidden by you two!” He laughed, a deep chuckling sound that Sheik hated. “And now, finally, all the Triforce parts have gathered here!” He spun around, cape fapping as he shook it out with his hand. “These toys are far to much for you!” He held his hand up and the Triforce of Power glowed on the back of it. “I command you to return them to me!” 

A power threw not only him but Navi back as well, knocking Sheik into the nearby wall and Navi into his chest. He reached his hands up and caught the fairy, holding her close to his chest. He tried to push himself up, to stand, but whatever the power knocked him right back down like the life was sucked from him. His head spun, pounding as if he’d had his skull bashed in, and Sheik sunk right back down to the ground. 

“Hey!” Navi floated up a bit, resting on his shoulder before calling out again. “Hey, listen! Link! We can’t help you! Because of the waves of darkness, we can’t get close!” She made a whimpering sound and shuttered on his shoulder. “Link, I’m sorry!” 

“I’m alright!” Link pulled his sword from his back and swung the Blade of Evil’s Bane down. “Trust me!” He did, they both did, they knew Link was more than prepared for this battle. It just didn’t make it easier to be stuck on the sidelines. Navi floated down to his lap and rested in it, cradled gently in Sheik’s hands. 

“You think that blade can hurt me? A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has power!”

Link tightened his grip on the sword and raised his head high to the Evil King. “I think courage fits that line better, and I have plenty of that. Since I have something worth protecting.” 

“Then prove it.” 

They clashed in the middle of the room, Link blocking Ganondorf’s sword with his own. The fight was almost like a dance, the two of them moving around each other with the skills of fierce fighters. Although he hated the idea of Ganondorf being good at anything it made since considering what he knew of the Gerudo. They were strong warriors, with combat skills even a Sheikah could envy. 

As a Leader of the Gerudo at one point he could see how he’d have skills like that. Perhaps, in another life, if he wasn’t so evil he could have made a good leader for them. Perhaps even lead them to a better future, something less evil. Nabooru wanted that for the Gerudo, he thought. She was a good person, a good leader, she could have brought honor to the Gerudo. 

This, all of this, did nothing for them. He wondered if Ganondorf even cared or if this bloodshed—this death even of his own people, was all that mattered to him. It wouldn’t surprise him but at the same time it was hard for him to imagine being raised and loved by so many people and just disregard them. Like tools. 

Perhaps, somewhere in that, was the definition of evil. 

Link got knocked down, the sword slashing against his chest and Sheik sat upright, pushing against the darkness that tried to hold him back down. His chest burned with the ache of the pressure, an incredibly uncomfortable feeling that he thought was actually trying to break his ribs. He clenched his teeth and Link rolled to the side, climbing back up to his feet in a swift motion. 

The Master Sword swung at his side and he raised it up to defend himself from another attack. He ached to help, to put himself in the middle of the fight, to defend Link. Anything other than just sit here. But the more he pushed the more Navi started to protest, reminding him that he still held her and she was important to Link. Settling back down he cradled the fairy to his chest and watched the fight. 

It felt like it would go on forever but Link finally got lucky at some point and parried an attack from Ganondorf. It knocked his sword back and he used the moment to drive the Master Sword forward, sinking it into Ganondorf’s chest. It made a sickening sound as it slid through, piercing his heart and causing him to stumble back. He screamed, a horrible sound that pierced through the air and Sheik’s ears, turning his skin a black color before he vanished entirely. Like melting. Link ran forward and retrieved his sword, swinging it onto his back as Princess Zelda was dropped free from her crystal prison. 

Quickly climbing to his feet Sheik rushed forward and helped the Princess up, supporting her weight with his own body. The building started to shake, like an earthquake struck Hyrule and she let out a sharp gasp. “The Castle is collapsing, we need to run! Quick, Sheik knows the backways out of here.” 

Link nodded and Sheik started to guide the Princess from the throne room, making their way back down how they’d come in. Had he been on his own he would have just jumped from a window but he was fairly certainly Zelda would fall to her death if they tried that. Instead, it meant fighting their way down the stairs and levels. Link took the lead in fighting the monsters and Sheik struck the role of protecting Princess Zelda. He used his own body as a shield and fought the monsters off, making sure to never wander far from her. 

This. This was what his future was supposed to be. A shield, a guardian, a sacrifice for the Royal Family. This was what his mother had done, what she expected of him. What his ancestors thought of their tribe. 

Why did the thought of this being his fate not sit well with him? 

He had no right to argue fate, he knew this was his destiny from the moment he was born. His mother told him stories of the tribe, stories of Sheikah Warriors that defended the Royal Family. She taught him everything she knew with the hopes he’d be strong enough to stand in her shoes, to be another shadow. She named him for their tribe believing he’d be good enough to replace her. 

She was gone now he had to fulfill his destiny that she had prepared him for and he had to do it with everything that he was. They gave their life, body and soul to the Royal Family after all. 

You weren’t a person, you didn’t matter, you were a shadow. 

A Sheikah. 

They reached the bottom of the Castle and ran from the building, Sheik pulling Princess Zelda behind him. They stumbled into the open field and she doubled over, panting for breath and clutching her dress tightly. Sheik looked down at her before away, gaze settling on the Hero of Time. “Link, you won!” 

There was a crash behind him and all three of them turned around, looking toward the Castle. Apparently, he’d opened his mouth far too soon. The Castle collapsed into the ground, taking most of the surrounding area with it and nearly the three of them. Sheik kept the Princess close, keeping her from falling into the pits that formed and Link protecting them both from the falling parts of the Castle. 

When everything finally stopped shaking there was a sound from the rubble and they looked to watch Ganondorf pull himself free from the depths of the Earth, clawing his way back up with blood dripping down his mouth. He straightened up, panting for breath and met Link’s gaze. The Triforce of Power lit up and the Evil King exploded in a bright light, body twisting and expanding as he changed shapes. What emerged from the rubble was a monster that held two swords, beast like and towering over Link. 

The monster swung it’s swords forward and knocked the Master Sword from Link’s grasp, sending it flying through the air. The sword embedded itself into the ground beside Sheik and he briefly glanced from it, to Link, then the Princess. Protecting her meant nothing if the entire world perished instead. With a brief nod to her he reached down, grabbed the handle of the Master Sword and yanked it from the ground. 

Rushing forward through the flames and cracked ground Sheik ducked underneath the slash of the swords, rolled around the ground and caught Link’s extended hand. The Hero yanked him up to his feet and Sheik passed the Master Sword over to him. A shared nod, a smile and Sheik pulled out the Goddesses harp. 

“Listen! He won’t hold us back this time, Sheik, we fight together with Link!” Navi settled above them and Sheik plucked a few strings on the harp. 

Together. 

“Let’s go then!” Against the darkness he utilized the Prelude of Light, finding the strength of the wave of light it created far more damaging to Ganondorf than the others. He could turn the light it cast into a weapon that slashed through even a darkness like Ganondorf. When he cast his light Link went in for an attack, slashing at the beast with everything that the Master Sword had. They drove him back together, fighting side by side and working around each other as if they’d been doing it for years. It was almost a second nature to Sheik, so much of one he wished he’d done it from the start. 

When they reached the end of the fight Princess Zelda used the power of the Triforce of Wisdom to freeze him in place. With the opening needed Link leapt forward and drove the Master Sword into the beasts head, delivering the final blow. “Now! Six sages! Open the door and seal the Evil King away!” 

With the combined force of the awakened sages Ganondorf and the evil that he created with him was swallowed up in a great light, vanishing before their very eyes. The Master Sword tumbled in the empty space previously occupied by Ganondorf’s body. Link stepped forward, picked the blade up and returned it to it’s sheath one final time. 

Was it done this time? Finally over? No more surprises? 

The Princess tumbled over and Sheik reached out instinctively to catch her, supporting her exhausted body against his own. Wrapping an arm around her waist he pulled her close to him and let her rest her head on his shoulder. “You did good, Princess, Impa would be proud of you.” 

She smiled, an exhausted look but a smile. “And you, Sheik. She’d be very proud of you… I know it in my heart.” 

“Mm… I believe you.” She bumped her head against his cheek and smiled into his collar. “Yeah, we won,” he looked to Link standing there and watching them. “Thank you.” 

A nod and Link looked between the both of them, then the ruined remains of Hyrule burning. “What do we do now?” It’s soft, like he wasn’t expected this was how the end of the fight would turn out. Sheik had to admit he did expect there to be more light and… less fire. 

The Princess straightened up a bit and tipped her head forward, tired gaze focusing on the ground. “Ganondorf is sealed; he can’t return even if the Master Sword is used to return to the past.” Picking her head up she looked to Link. “So, we will return the Master Sword and use its remaining strength to return Hyrule to the past. You will get to have the childhood that was so wrongly robbed of you. You’ll get to grow up, Hero.” 

That was not a reassured look on Link’s face. It was actually the one he wore when Impa was yelling at Sheik. An indifferent mask. “What about everyone else? What about the sages?” He looked briefly to Sheik and the unspoken question was voiced; would Impa and Saria return? 

This time it was Sheik who answered. “No. The sages… their job is to continue to pray to keep Ganondorf sealed away and power the Master Sword and Sacred Realm. They’ll never return as they’ll never die, not unless a new Sage is sent to take their place.” His eyes fell shut and Sheik let out a breath before looking to Link again. “They knew that when they entered the Sacred Realm. I’m sorry, about Saria.” Link looked away and didn’t reply but Sheik could see how the words hurt him. 

“Come, we must return the Master Sword.” The Princess reached her hand out and grasped Sheik’s elbow. He adjusted the Master Sword in his grasp and ran his fingers across the harp, playing the notes for the Prelude of Light one final time. Link accompanied him a moment later, the Ocarina resonating with the harp in that familiar, intimate and pleasant way. The magic absorbed the both of them, carrying them through the light to the Temple of Time that thankfully stood protected because of the Sage of Light Rauru. 

He tucked the harp behind his back as the Princess walked forward. The moment Link appeared beside him he lifted his gaze up to the Hero, a smile on his face though it didn’t reach his eyes at all. Link nodded to him, his own a similar expression and taking Sheik’s hand in his, they walked through the Temple of Time. Princess Zelda met them at the Podium, hands folded in front of her and expression serene. With a nod she motioned to the pedestal and Link reached up to retrieve the Master Sword. 

“Link, you should know that just like all the times before, you will remember all of this. The Triforces' power will keep our memories intact, just as they would Ganondorf’s.” The Hero faltered, a hesitation in his body as he looked to the Princess. 

His gaze briefly moved to Sheik and then settled on her once more. “What about Sheik? Hyrule? Your father?” 

She shook her head. “It’s highly unlikely Sheik will remember, and I know for certain the rest of Hyrule will not. I know Sheik played a great role in all of this so truly, though I can’t say he won’t in that same way I can’t say he will either. He doesn’t possess the power we do. I believe, the turn of time for him, is in the hands of the Goddesses.” Her green gaze slipped to him and the Princess bowed her head forward. “I’m sorry Sheik, and as you can understand it now. Thank you, for your service to Hyrule. For helping to save us all. Hyrule owes you a debt that cannot be repaid.” 

Without a better reply he simply bowed back, that knot in his stomach growing tighter. When he straightened back up his gaze met the green of the Hero’s tunic and he snapped his head up higher, looking at that intoxicating blue gaze of the Hero. The Princess held the Master Sword now, awkwardly and unsurely. As if she wasn’t watching them Link took hold of Sheik’s face and pulled him close, their lips meeting in the space between them as he leaned down. 

This kiss was different from all the others, different than their last one. It wasn’t the same as a near goodbye, as a hope for another, it was a genuine goodbye. Link stole the very breath from his lungs, grasped him like a lifeline and trembled in his hold. He kissed him like he was terrified for once, like the world was still falling apart around him. 

Sheik held him back, fingers tangled in the front of his tunic and unwilling to let him go. He gave Link what he could of himself, what he had left, and Link took every single bit of it knowing it would be the last. 

They pulled apart and Link watched his eyes for a moment longer, memorizing the shape of Sheik’s face, before turning to Princess Zelda. They didn’t need to say anything, they’d already said their words before, Sheik knew everything he wanted to say. So he watched him step up beside her and place his hands on the hilt of the Master Sword, above her own. The two of them lifted the blade up above the pedesta. A breath, a pause, and the sword was slammed back down enveloping Hyrule in light. 

[ △ ]

Impa was gone. Sheik woke up in his bed in her house, sheets tangled around his body and banging on the door of the house. He dragged himself from the bed, far to short and far to awkward. When he answered the door a Sheikah Warrior from the Castle, one he knew, told him that she died. No explanation how, no preparation, just a royal decree from the Castle to tell her only surviving family member that she was dead. Sheik blinked at their red eyes, nodded his head numbly and shut the door. 

He was wrong. How was he wrong? Because Sheik knew the truth, he knew what that man didn’t. Impa wasn’t dead, Impa was the Sage of Shadows. 

It was a little disorienting, a little jumbled, but what Sheik did know was that he was too short and too young. His body didn’t respond as fast as he wanted to when moving and when reaching for something he found himself unable to grab it because of his height. His two sets of memories seemed to be fighting with each other for awareness. 

He knew who he was, he knew what he did and he remembered Link. But he also remembered yesterday his mother had made him eggs for breakfast and yelled at sent him to the Shadow Temple later that day. He remembered in vivid details failing the Shadow Temple and in the same breath he remembered concurring it with Link by his side. 

For the first week waking up it was like that, uncomfortable in his own body and with conflicting memories. He wondered if this was how Link felt when he was forced to enter his seven year ‘slumber’. At least he had a chance to grow in his dream realm, it had to make this better on some level. 

He slept a lot that week, trying to rest his head and hope his mind recovered. When he wasn’t sleeping he sat on the steps of Kakariko Village and looked out toward Hyrule Field. He was waiting… waiting for Link to return, to find him like he did before. Except—except Link never came. Sheik never saw him in the field, never saw Epona, never heard Navi. Nothing. He sat there for hours, people passing him and watching with sad expressions. They thought he was waiting for Impa to come back. They didn’t know how wrong they were. 

The Sheikah though must have gotten tired of him ‘moping’ around because one of them came with another Royal decree of being a Sheikah Warrior for the Royal Family and dragged him off. Sheik was given a position of protecting Princess Zelda, much like Impa had and he was sure that she had something to do with it. 

As nice as it seemed, as nice as he was sure she was trying to be, he didn’t want this. He really—he really didn’t want this. He had that thought earlier, when they ran from the Castle as it burned around them, but he knew it for sure now. Standing here beside her, hidden among the shadows, being her ‘guard’. He hated it, he hated doing nothing. 

He didn’t want to give his life, body and soul to them. He wanted to be out there, he wanted to help, but more so he wanted to stand beside Link and be with him again. He just wanted to be close to the Hero. 

So he started picking fights with the guards. They thought it was acting out, distress and in pain from losing his mother, from being an orphan. He let them think that as he played games with them and pissed them off. They were pathetic at their job though and several fell asleep while working, if anything they deserved it and he was helping to train the future soldiers of Hyrule. 

The Princess put up with it for two months before she snapped. It was late at night, her father was breathing down her neck, she’d just turned thirteen. Going through all of this once at a time of war was bad enough, being thirteen a second time through seemed even harder on her. She just—-broke it seemed. “All you do is cause me trouble! The guards look at you and they see a joke! I know you’re having a hard time Sheik but do you really think this is what Impa would want from you!?” 

“Why don’t you tell me since you were closer to her! All you seem to do is cry that she’s not here!” 

“Well I wish she was! I wish she wasn’t the Sage of Shadows! Anyone else but her!” She hit him in the chest as tears cascaded down her face. “Anyone—anyone else.” She meant him.

They had that fight a lot, and after the words were said there seemed to be no returning from that. Sheik distanced himself from her as much as he could, pushing himself to train so he could familiarize himself with his body again. The worst part of all of this, it seemed, was that he lost his harp. The Goddesses harp just seemed absorbed with the turn of time. He woke up without it and no matter how much he searched he couldn’t find it. 

When he turned sixteen Sheik gave up hoping Link would turn up at the Castle. He escaped the place himself and made for Kokiri Forest. Getting inside was far too easy, but then after sneaking around Ganondorf’s Castle he wasn’t sure there was anything that could keep him out anymore. He showed himself to the Sacred grove, slipping past the ‘guard’ and stepped before the Great Deku Tree. 

“Hmm… young Sheikah, what brings you here?” 

“Great Deku Tree my name is Sheik, son of Impa the Sage of Shadows. I’m searching for a Hylian who used to live here. His name is Link.” 

“So, you remember that which has not come to pass, do you?” As they all suspected, the Great Deku Tree remembered too. He wondered what it was about the both of them that made them an exception. He nodded his head and the Tree—sighed? Do tree’s sigh? “I’m afraid you’ve come too late. Link has left for Termina.” Hyrule’s neighboring Kingdom? He frowned and the Deku Tree continued. “He searches for something, I’m not sure what, perhaps himself. He was lost when waking up, and he hopes by traveling he’ll find who he is. If he’ll ever return, I cannot say I can only hope. Maybe he will find his answers there.” 

“I see.” Sheik nodded his head and looked up toward the sky. “He deserves to find that peace, after everything he has done for us.” A smile spreads across his face and Sheik closes his eyes, willing the tears that brimmed them to vanish. “I hope he finds it too and grows into a wonderful person, I already know he’s capable of it.” 

The Great Deku Tree is silent for a few minutes and Sheik uses the time to wipe his face, tugging his mask higher to hide his expression. “What are your plans now, Sheik?” 

“I fear there isn’t much left for me. I tried to do what they wanted me to, I tried to be the person they expected me to be. I swear I did, I just can’t be that person. I’m not fit for the role of the Princess’ guard. It makes me miserable to be stuck among those people.” He hated the Castle when Ganondorf ruled it and he hated it just as much with the Royal Family in it. “My place in the world was as the Hero’s guide and I fulfilled that role. We saved Hyrule.” A small shake of his head and he clenched his hand over his heart. “The Princess is going to be Queen and she needs someone else by her side.” 

“To do what you’re thinking will not bring joy to the people around you.” The Great Deku Tree spoke gently and with wisdom befitting someone as old as it. Yet, Sheik wasn’t swayed by the words. “If you are miserable; find another path. Don’t forsake the chance at life you were given.” 

“I’m not forsaking anything, I’m chasing a path I know I can walk and giving peace to someone else who deserves it.” Sheik held himself high and bowed to the Great Deku Tree. “Thank you for your time, Great Deku Tree.” 

As he turned to leave he heard him call out one last time. “Guide of Time, what would you have me tell the Hero should he return?” 

He hesitates, throat running dry and words caught. He swallowed, closed his eyes and breathed out. “That he went somewhere I couldn’t follow again.” With parting words he left the forest and returned to Kakariko Village. 

The trip through the Shadow Temple was just as hellish the third time through as it was the others. Sheik fought his way through the same puzzles, the same darkness, the same torture that he had the first time. He made it to the end exhausted, clutching the replacement harp he found in Impa’s house and walked up to the wall in the sanctum. He grabbed a Dirk from his thigh and using it carved his name into the wall with the others, large and with meaning. Just like Impa said she had. 

Then he took a seat in the middle of the room, where the hole Bongo Bongo created used to be, and played the harp as he prayed. He played for the Goddesses to hear, for the Sages to hear, for Impa to hear until his fingers were numb and worn from the strings of the harp. He ran through all the songs he taught Link, replayed his favorites and then started old familiar folk songs he used to love playing when learning the harp as a child. 

He played and prayed until the Goddesses bent to his will and gave him access to the Sacred Realm. It could have been hours, it could have been days, but the dedication eventually rang through and when Sheik was nearly passing out from fatigue a light enveloped him and swept him off to the Sacred Realm. 

The room he stood in was familiar, painfully so, and across from him standing on the Shadow Medallion was Impa. The same as he last saw her, the same age as she was when the war started. She held herself high still, white hair bound up and blood eyed gaze meeting a mirror of her own. “Sheik.” 

“It’s my turn.” To speak, to explain himself, to be the Sage of Shadows. He dropped the harp down to his side and looked his mother in the eyes. “I’m tired. I walked the path you wanted me to, I guided the Hero of Time and I completed my quest. I walked the path of the Sheikah Warrior a second time through and I wake up each day more tired than the last.” Pity, that was pity in his mothers eyes. He’s never seen that before. “I hate feeling lost, as if my life has no meaning if the world isn’t burning. You created a soldier and I can’t find myself resting.” 

He needed a fight to keep going and he wondered if Link felt the same, if that was why he left Hyrule in search of something to keep him going. In search of answers. His way to keep going was by fleeing and Sheik’s was by throwing himself to this. “Princess Zelda doesn’t want me, she made it clear I’m not you. She needs her guide, as the Hero needed his.” Taking a step forward he held his hand out toward his mother. “Let me be the Sage of Shadows and return to her side. Let me save you this time, Mom.”

Impa closed her eyes and Sheik caught sight of the tears that rolled down the red tribal markings on her face. She shook her head, white hair moving with the motion. She swallowed, lifted her sorrow filled gaze and took a stuttering breath in. “I’m sorry that I drove you to this. I taught you the way I did in the hopes you could protect yourself and though you lived it all failed to protect your heart.” She reached out and clasped his hand tightly, yanking Sheik’s body into her’s, enveloping him in a tight hug. “If this place will give you a purpose again I’ll pass the mantle to you. Forgive me, Sheik.” 

“It’s okay, I’m alright.” He tucked his face down into her neck, feeling her start to vanish from the sacred realm. “Live for me, help Zelda find the peace I couldn’t. And if you see Link, will you tell him I loved him? I gave him the necklace you made me to show him—but I never said the words.” 


End file.
